Hidden in Plain Sight
by oanya
Summary: Cammie and Zach have never been happier- they have their whole lives ahead of them travelling the world and working together as private spies. Nothing could ruin it. Until something goes wrong. A mistake, a threat and a goodbye later, Cammie needs to go on the most dangerous mission of her life, before everything she loves is taken away from her.
1. Prologue

**This is the sequel to Lying with the Truth. Enjoy, and please review! **

**Prologue**

This was the most dangerous mission I had ever been on. Ever. The stakes were high. One mistake and everything that could go wrong, would go wrong. And it was entirely up to me whether or not this mission would succeed.  
I sprayed freeze spray on my hands, and then hooked my rappel-a-cord up to a caribineer. I took in a deep breath. Come on, Cammie, you can do this, I told myself.  
"Bex is in position, Liz has cracked to codes to open the gates, Macey's managed to get rid of the guard at the entrance. And now Zach's waiting for you Cammie."  
"I know. Just give me a minute." I breathed.  
"Cammie, I believe in you. And Zach trusts you. You have to go now."  
"If I don't... If I don't get out, tell everyone I loved them, OK?" My voice trembled.  
"I won't have to- you will get out."  
"But, if I don't. Promise me?" I looked to my right.  
"I promise."  
"Thank you, Sam." I exhaled. Then I started to climb.


	2. When In Portugal

**Chapter 1**

For a normal 19 year old the extent of spying might be looking out your bedroom window at the cute boy who lives next door. A normal 19 year old might only use a wig if it was Halloween. Ordinary teens spend their Saturday nights out with friends, not trailing a 25 year old woman who's supposedly recruting people to take down MI5.  
Of course, I wasn't a normal 19 year old. Only a few months after I graduated from Gallagher and accepted the job as a Private spy, Zach and I got our first assignment- trailing this woman in Portugal. "OK, Cammie, you're up." Zach's voice whispered silkily in my ear. One of the pros of this job- our trancievers were so high quality we would never have to hear static crackling loudly in our ears ever again.

I walked over to the shop where The Subject was looking at some Portuguese souvenirs. The Subject took off her sunglasses and peered at me.  
"You know, I heard that Portugal has the highest crime rate in Europe." She told me. It wasn't true, but it was 'the line'. If I answered her correctly, she would think I wanted to join her little club, therefore revealing she was a criminal and allowing me and Zach to arrest her.  
"Crime, justice, whatever you want to call it." I said absent-mindedly in a Portuguese accent. She gave a small smile and shifted subtly so that she was facing me more directly.  
"You want in?" She asked me, looking into my eyes without blinking. I matched her stare easily.  
"Depends on what you're talking about. But either way, if you're talking about your little army or prison, my answer will still be no." I said, dropping my accent. Her eyes widened, and she was turning to run away, but she couldn't. Zach had already handcuffed her.  
I smiled while I told the police to move in, and the woman struggled in Zach's iron grip. Our first assignment and we had done amazingly. The police pulled up a minute later, and we were already free to go. Agent Carlton from our graduation was right, this was the perfect job. We had so much free time.  
Zach took my hand while we walked down the cobbled street towards the beach. He bought my hand up to his lips and kissed it. "Good job, partner." He grinned, bumping my hips with his.  
"You too. So where do you want to go next? I mean, it's going to be a few weeks before we get a new assignment, and when in Portugal..." I asked.  
"How about we stay here for a while and then go to Italy. I heard that Macey was there on a mission, and Bex is in Switzerland and Liz is always just around somewhere isn't she?" Zach murmered.  
"That sounds like a great idea," I smiled as we sat down on the darkening beach. The sky was a deep amber, the sun was setting over the horizon. "It's so beautiful, isn't it?"  
"I bet I can name something more beautiful." Zach said softly, looking at me. I blushed and Zach kissed my cheek. The sun had set for about five minutes before Zach reluctantly said we should go back to the hotel.  
As we walked hand in hand back to our hotel, the only thing I could keep thinking was that there was no place I would rather be.


	3. Channel 4 News

**Hello thank you for all the positive reviews! Thank you to everyone's continued support and here's Chapter 2!**

On the way back to the hotel the heel on my boot broke. Zach laughed and broke my other boot heel to try and make it easier for me to walk- it didn't help. I ended up taking my shoes off and walking barefoot in the streets. The cement and the paved stones were still warm from the heat of the sun. The street was kind of crowded with tourists and teenagers, some of whom looked at me like I was weird, but that only made me laugh.  
Zach smirked at me. "What?" I asked him.

"I've never seen you like this- so... carefree and happy." He told me.

"I was happy at Gallagher." I protested.

"Yeah, you were, but now you have more freedom. We don't have to worry about curfews or getting caught sneaking out, or the Circle coming to kidnap us or anything." Zach explained.

"You do have a point." I said, and Zach smirked again.

"I always have a point, Gallagher girl." He raised an eyebrow at me pointedly.

"I'm a little bit too old to be your Gallagher girl now, aren't I?"

"You're only 19. You'll never stop being my Gallagher girl," Zach said, picking me up in his arms.  
"What was that for?" I laughed.

"Can't have you messing up the hotel lobby, can we?" Zach smiled. "Can we have the key card for room 317 please?" He casually asked the receptionist. The hotel required us to leave our key cards at the front desk so that we wouldn't lose them. Zach set me down on the reception desk and while the receptionist looked for our key card, my eyes caught on something on the TV- the name Baxter.

"Could you turn it up please?" I asked the receptionist, and gestured at the TV. Thank God I spoke Portuguese.

"-Officially gone MIA. The Baxters were part of MI6 Security detail for Queen Elizabeth II of England while she visited the United States for President Obama's birthday, and shortly after the Queen met with the President and his wife, the First Lady, there was a break in at the White House and the two agents were taken captive." The news reporter was saying. I didn't realise I was holding my breath until they showed pictures of Abe Baxter and his wife Grace Baxter, Bex's parents.

"Oh, my God." I breathed.

"As far as we know, there have been no ransom notes and nothing to suggest why or where the Baxters were taken. The Queen herself has personally asked the police of every country in Europe to keep an eye out for the Baxters. This has been Adriana Abrega reporting for Chanel 4 news, good night." The reporter signed off and the tv started showing commercials. Zach took the key card off the desk, and picked me up again. In the lift we were silent, our mood lowered.

Why would someone kidnap Abe and Grace? How did they not manage to get away? What must Bex be going through right now? I should probably call her. As soon as we got into out hotel room, Zach dialled a number on his mobile. I sat on the bed in silence.

"That doesn't matter. Look, just tell her that Cammie's on the phone, OK?" Zach was saying. He waited a moment and then handed the phone over to me. I smiled at him gratefully.

"Hello?" I said.

"Cammie?" Bex's voice said huskily.

"Hey, how are you? Where are you?" I asked.

"I'm fine, I- I mean, a bit shaken up but it's not me who's been kidnapped." Bex said, though her voice trembled a bit. "I'm in Italy, where are you?"

"Portugal, but me and Zach are going to fly over to Italy tomorrow, OK?" I reassured her. "And I'll find Liz and Macey, too."

"No, Macey's already here I'm in her hotel room. But Liz is still in the States." Bex sniffed.

"That's OK, we'll see you tomorrow, OK?"

"OK. See you tomorrow." I said, hanging up reluctantly. Zach sat down next to me on the bed.

"I've already packed our bags." Zach whispered. "You OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine it's just... why does trouble follow every one of us? First Macey, then me and you, now Bex. What if something happens to Liz?" I said. "It just makes me feel so helpless."

"I know, but it's going to be OK." Zach whispered in my ear. "Come on, we should get some sleep. Big day tomorrow."

"OK." I said, suddenly feeling very tired. Zach was going into the adjoining room, but I stopped him. "Don't go. Please?"  
Zach stopped, looking surprised. But then he came and lied down next to me. He put his arms around me, and I fell asleep with Zach at my side, just as I used to back in Gallagher.


	4. Nervous Flier

**Please enjoy, review, favourite, do whatever you like! **

**Chapter 3**

The plane flight to Italy was luxurious, and quiet. If me and Zach barely talking wasn't awkward enough it was further accented by the silence in the cabin because we couldn't hear the plane's finely tuned engines.

"Why would someone kidnap Abe and Grace?" I mused outloud. Zach was looking out the window at the Italian landscape. We were over the ocean, and it was unseasonably cold and rainy. The plane shook with turbulence.

I gripped the armrest so hard my knuckles turned white. Zach glanced at me. "Are you all right?" He asked me. I nodded tersely.

"Nervous flier." I explained. The plane shook from side to side again. I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing slowly, and my heart slowed down. I looked over Zach's head, where the stewardess was talking on a plane phone. We only had a basic crew- two pilots, and one stewardess. I frowned. Why would the stewardess - whose nametag identified her as Yvette- be talking on the phone?

"Zach, remember yesterday I was talking about how trouble follows us everywhere?" I asked, talking quickly in a hushed tone.  
"Yeah?" Zach instantly looked worried. He saw me glancing behind him, and instantly looked for something reflective. But there was nothing reflective on the plane.

"A plane would be the perfect place to trap us. Nothing below us but 35,000 feet of air, nothing above us, no-one around for miles." As I was talking the stewardess saw me looking, and turned her back to me.

That's when I saw a bulge. At the back of her skirt, there was a very definite gun-shape sticking out.

"Zach. That woman. Has. A gun." I choked on the words. Zach's eyes hardened. Someone was targeting us. For what reason, we didn't know yet. And we had to get off this plane, one way or another. Zach stood up and walked to the back of the plane where the restrooms were. The stewardess was waiting to get into the main cabin, and as Zach opened the door, he pushed it with his ankle so it hit the stewardess.

Yvette was knocked backwards, but she quickly regained her footing, narrowing her eyes. I stood up quickly, taking a knife out of my boot, which I always held in a knife holster just in case. Yvette's eyes flashed in anger, and the pounced towards Zach, bringing her gun out of her waistband.

Yvette was not a good fighter- Zach easily disarmed her and held the gun to her head, pinning one arm to the cabin wall with another hand. I held her other arm against the wall and pressed the knife against her throat.  
I didn't want to kill her, even if she was trying to kill me and Zach. "So, Yvette, want to explain a few things?" I asked coldly, not letting my voice or eyes convey any emotion. Yvette smiled barbarically.

"Might as well, it's not like we have much time left." She grinned. I raised an eyebrow.

"Cammie, go check the cockpit." Zach said coldly. I ran towards the cockpit, where the pilots were unconcious. I put my fingers at their neck, searching for a pulse. There was no pulse to be found. Thank God the plane was on Autopilot.

"What did you do to them?!" I yelled, running back towards Zach and Yvette.

"Poison. And in about half an hour you're going to be like them too." Yvette laughed.

"What poison did you use? WHAT POISON?" Zach yelled, slamming Yvette against the wall again.

"It doesn't matter," Yvette said simply. "Even if you do find a cure, you may only have, I'd say about 45 seconds left to live."  
"What?" I swear my heart stopped. Yvette glanced towards one of the overhead compartments. I yanked it open and there was a bomb counting down. 32...31...30...

"Zach, we have to jump." I gasped. Then the plane shook and fell, so violently me, Zach and Yvette hit the ceiling of the plane. "NO!" I gasped, as the bomb fell out of the overhead compartment and onto the floor. I held my breath. The bomb didn't go off. But it glitched and started again at 15 seconds. I looked over to Yvette and Zach, only it was someone else with Zach.

Yvette's blonde hair (well, her wig) had fallen off, revealing a dark-haired woman I recognised. Sara Ford- the Circle of Cavan woman who tried to torture information out of me and Zach last year.

"Screw you guys." Sara yelled, wriggling away from Zach's grasp, opening the door to the plane and jumping out.  
"Cammie, we have to jump now!" Zach yelled over the pounding noise of the air rushing into the cabin. 7...6...5...

We jumped hand in hand, Zach dragging me behind him. With all the air rushing past, it was really hard to breathe. Behind us, the plane exploded, sending us faster down our descent. I could feel the blistering heat on my back. Thankfully, we were relatively near the beach- about a couple hundred metres off. People were still on the beach despite the storm clouds above, and loads of people were pointing in our direction. The waves below us were choppy, and dark, stormy grey.

I tried to breathe in deeply before me and Zach hit the water. It didn't work. Immediately the icy cold hit me and it felt like needles piercing my skin. My first instinct was to breathe- it was really hard to resist the impulse. I swam upwards, and gasped for air, but it wasn't working. It was the poison, it had made my the inside of my throat swell up. It was getting harder to breathe. I could see Zach was having the same problem.  
"Cammie- DUCK!" Zach yelled, dragging me underwater again. Stupidly, I thought, why would there be ducks out here? but then a huge piece of metal from the plane slapped down on the water.

The water tinged red. I dragged Zach back to the surface to see that the metal struck him on the head- he was bleeding. The poison started to make my legs cramp up. I turned onto my back , putting Zach's unconcious body on top of me so that he was lying back. I put my fingers near his nose to check if he was breathing. He was. I relaxed slightly. I put two fingers at his neck to monitor his pulse. Maybe it was just me but was it getting slower? God, I hope not. Hopefully it was just my fingers going numb. I couldn't tell whether we were drifting away from or towards the shore. But I thought I heard the rumbling of a motorboat, so hopefully someone was coming to rescue us.

I waited. And waited. It felt like hours had gone by, but it was probably only minutes. But I didn't have any minutes to spare. Yvette- Sara- said that I should be dead in half an hour. How much time had passed? Finally i saw the glint of metal out of the corner of my eye. And then some agents dressed in black were leaning over the side of the boat. It hurt my cramped muscles but I pushed Zach towards the boat. He was safely on, when a big wave washed over me. I was submerged under the water, the force of the wave making me roll over. I didn't know which way was up.

Hands reached into the water and grabbed at me. I was pulled up, choking, coughing and spluttering salt water. It burned my throat. I could barely hear my voice over the pounding in my head.

"Poison." I rasped.

"What? What did you say?" One of the agents leaned in so he could hear me.

"Poisoned." I whispered again. I couldn't breathe.

"I think she says they've been poisoned." The agent turned around looking for confirmation I didn't care anymore. I ran out of oxygen. My sight turned blurry. My lungs screamed for oxygen. I closed my eyes.


	5. Yours is Still To Come

**Enjoy the chapter, if you have any questions, leave it in the reviews and I will PM you and answer your questions without giving too much away!**

I woke up uncomfortably, with tubes stuck in my arms, nose and throat. I tried to ignore my gag reflex but ended up coughing. A nurse rushed over to me and took the air tube out of my throat. I followed the tube in my arm to a bag of clear liquid with the words 'Anti Poison' written across the front in permanent marker.

I then saw a figure sleeping next to my bed, someone who I didn't think I recognised. In a chair, head tipped back, and breathing deeply, the stranger had a slight, pixie-like body with a cap of pale blonde hair. I couldn't see who it was because a side fringe covered half of the stranger's face. I sat up suddenly, waking up the person next to me.

"I'm up, I'm up," The stranger muttered sleepily in a southern accent. "Hey, and so are you!" She broke into a wide smile, and stood up to give me a hug.

"Liz?" I said incredulously. "What happened to your hair? What happened to you? What are you doing here? Wherever here is..."

"I cut my hair, I wanted a change. Do you like it? I had, like, a growth spurt or something, I'm like 5 foot 6 now or something. As soon as I heard about Bex's parents I got on a plane to Italy I got here a few hours before your plane, erm, you know, _kaboomed_. And when they found you and Zach in the water and realised you'd been poisoned I was the one who found what anti-poison to use! We're in the Italian recupero reparto - which is basically 'recovery ward'." Liz explained this to me very fast, answering my questions in order. "Speaking of which, why did your plane, you know, _kaboom_?"

"Liz why don't you just say it exploded?"

"Because everyone here is referring to it as The Incident and it seems blunt to say that it exploded and you almost died." Liz said. "So... you were about to explain stuff?"

So I told her about the plane, me seeing the gun the stewardess had, how Zach disarmed Yvette/Sara and we found out about the poison and the bomb, and then the turbulence. How the stewardesses wig fell off to reveal she was in fact Sara, and how we jumped but the poison kicked in and the last thing I remember was not being able to breathe.

Liz sat silently, concentrating, thinking. Why would Bex's parents be kidnapped and just after that me and Zach were almost killed? The only time I had seen her think this hard was when she was making dynamite out of peanuts - no, really, dynamite is mostly made of peanuts- as an extra-credit project. It was quite fun actually, we got to use the dynamite to blow up the old sheds.

"I think... some body is targeting us." Liz said thoughtfully. "Specifically, you, me, Macey, Bex and Zach."

"We need to talk about this with the others." I said, looking around. I had been so caught up in Liz's new looks I hadn't notice we were the only ones in the room. "Where are the others? And, oh, God, where's Zach?" I asked, looking intently at Liz. She was biting her lip in a way that didn't comfort me.

"Well, Cammie, Sara wasn't exactly very careful. She made her own poison, one that would cause your airways to swell, and every muscle to cramp to leave your lungs even less room to expand." She started explaining.

"Liz, I don't need the lecture, just tell me whether he's OK or not!" I snapped. Liz's eyes flashed with hurt, and I instantly regretted snapping at her.

"Sara gave him a higher dose than she gave you, and the fact that he was dealing with a concussion, it hit him harder than it hit you. He's fine, but since she tailored the poison I had to tailor the antipoison as well, and Zach had a mildly allergic reaction to it. He's fine, but he's just really weak now. It's going to take him at least another week to fully recover." Liz said softly.

"How long... have I been... here?" I asked slowly.

"It's been two weeks already." Liz said hesitantly.

"Two weeks?!" I exploded. It seemed like such a long time. "IF WE'RE BEING TARGETED - if we're being targeted," I started again, lowering my voice, "What, has happened in the last two weeks." I tried to keep my voice calm. Liz bit her lip again.

"Macey's- um. Macey's parent's have been kidnapped. A few days after that, Mr Solomon was shot while he was taking sophomores out on a trailing lesson." Liz looked away, her eyes glistening with tears. "A few day's after that, some one took my sister."

I remembered Liz talking about her sister- she was six years younger than Liz, only 13 years old. She was considered as a potential Gallagher candidate, due to start next year. Liz was so proud of her baby sister.

And now she had been kidnapped. A teenage girl with no spy training was now being held captive. What if she was being tortured? The thought made me sick.

"OK, so someone is targeting us. Who have they hurt? They took Bex's parents, they took Macey's parents, they took your sister. That leaves me and Zach. Their attempt of killing me and Zach failed, so they shot Mr Solomon- to hurt us both? But Mr Solomon will recover, which only means..." I trailed off, not wanting to say it out loud.

Liz said it for me. "Yours is still to come."


	6. Yes

**I think you guys will like this chapter... By the way, if you're new to my writing, you don't have to but if you read Lying with the Truth things will probably make more sense. **

**If you have any questions, please put them in the reviews!**

Yours is yet to come. The words echoed around my head that night. My mind started imagining the worst possible things that might happen. What if Mr Solomon had died? I couldn't imagine living without Joe, my godfather. What if Zach died, leaving me all alone? What if I died? I couldn't bear to think about Zach, empty, with no-one left to trust.

I couldn't sleep that night. I kept shuffling in my hospital bed, which was now too stiff and constricting. I was too hot and too cold at the same time. With a groan I sat up- there was no point trying to go to sleep now. It was nearly 3 in the morning, and I was no where near tired.  
I stood up shakily, using the hanger for the antipoison as a support.

I padded out of my room and down the hall barefoot, hoping nobody was around on night shifts. I didn't even realise I was looking for Zach until I saw him through the window. I went inside his room and sat down beside his bed. Liz was right- he was in worse shape than me. He was covered in a sheen of sweat, and for a weird reason I thought about Sam- the first time he showed up at Gallagher.

He was covered in rain and sweat, and he was in a hospital bed just like this. Sam, I sighed. I still hadn't told Zach who Sam really was. Sam Goode was Zach's long-lost and unknown brother, who lied to us by telling us the truth, in doing so making Zach hate him, but as it turns out Sam was always secretly on our side, but he made me promise not to tell Zach the truth.

"Cammie?" Zach whispered hoarsely, snapping me back to the present.

"Hey, you're awake." I said softly, pulling up a chair next to his bedside.

"You look awful." Zach teased.

"Have you seen yourself?" I laughed, stroking his hair caringly. Being with Zach right now made me feel better, like none of the drama going on right now was actually real.

"You look sad, Cammie. You should be happy- we're alive." Zach caught my hand and started tracing the lines on my palm with his fingers.  
"No, Zach, because we're sort of in trouble again." I said, my contentness dissapearing. Zach frowned. "Macey's parent's were taken, and so was Liz's little sister, and Mr Solomon was shot in public while he took his class out on a CoveOps mission. Someone's targeting us and something is going to happen to us. Poisoning us and making the plane explode didn't kill us- something is going to happen but the thing is, we don't know what, and..."

I trailed off, a lump swelling in my throat. Zach pulled me onto the bed with him. I put my head on his chest, listening to the steady beat of this heartbeat.

"It's OK. We won't think of that today, we'll think about it tomorrow." Zach whispered, playing with my hair.

"Is that Gone with the Wind?" I asked.

"It may surprise you to find out i'm actually very well read." Zach told me sarcastically, "Now shush and go to sleep."

And I slept a dreamless sleep, for hours until I woke up to someone opening the door to Zach's hospital room. "See, I told you she would be here!" A familliar voice called to someone. My eyelids flickered open to see a pair of blue eyes staring down at me with amusement.

"Honestly, you just can't keep your hands off eachother, can you?" Macey asked me, raising a perfectly manicured eyebrow.

"Hey, how's Preston? You guys just had your 6 month aniversary?" I said sarcastically. "In Paris?"

"Hey, it was just a happy coincidence he happened to be in Paris and I happened to be on a private jet!" Macey said indignantly. "It's good to see you though, Cams." She said, giving me a hug.

Macey- I was kind of glad to see- hadn't changed; She was tall and beautiful, her dark hair was in a fancy chignon and she smelled like floral Dolce and Gabanna perfume. "You too. Where's Bex?"

"I'm here," Bex piped up from the doorway. I ran over to her and hugged her too. Bex looked beautifully sad- she reminded me of Demeter from the Greek legend of Persephone. Whenever Persephone isn't near Demeter she is so sad she shuns her duties and makes Autumn and Winter.

I always thought Bex looked like an Egyptian goddess- well, who wouldn't? Bex has cappuccino coloured skin and caramel eyes that are simply gorgeous. But now I thought she looked like Demeter- beautiful and sad at the same time.  
"How are you?" I whispered in Bex's ear.

"I'll live. I just need to get my parents back." She told me in her British accent. I nodded, and looked back at Macey. She looked like Bex too. Beautifully sad.

"Not to interrupt the great reunion, but Cammie and Zach need to go to a debriefing. He's doing well, Liz said he can get out today. Fifth floor, room 2103, in the D Building." Macey told me. "The agents they want to debrief you aren't here yet, but there's a private beach you can wait on. It's got agents posted at 15 metre posts all around the beach, so it's very safe. We'll, um... leave you to get changed."

Macey gave me a last smile and then she and Bex left me and Zach alone. "So..." I started. "I'm gonna go get changed."  
"OK. I'll meet you on the beach." Zach gave me a reassuring nod, then went to get changed.

I trailed down the hallway again until I found my room. There was a small dresser, and I opened it hoping to find some clothes in it. I was dissapointed for the wrong reasons- there were clothes in the dresser, but it was obvious Macey had picked them out.

I sighed with irritation. Of course. Macey knew my size- if I had no clothes it would be the perfect excuse for her to go shopping. I looked through the drawers for something I could wear and found nothing. There were a few garments and they were all sundresses.

"Macey!" I hissed under my breath. She was going to pay for this. I reluctantly pulled on the first thing I touched. It was a bright floral sun dress with a decolletage a bit too low for my taste. I sighed, pulling on leather sandals. I also found some dark brown sunglasses and put those on too- hopefully they would hide some of my shame.

I reluctantly braided my hair back into a chignon the way Macey taught me. I figured I would give it all or nothing. I worked my way down the floors and walked onto the beach. I slipped off my sandals and held them in my hand. Zach was on the beach. Why was he allowed normal clothes? I wondered. He had pale beige trousers and baby blue top. His sunglasses were on top of his head. He turned and saw me walking towards me and smiled. I felt myself blush, heat prickling in my cheeks.

"I see Macey picked out your clothes too," Zach smirked at me. I rolled my eyes, but I almost felt like I could forgive Macey- this dress did make me feel good.

"Shut up!" I gave him a playful shove. Zach caught my hand and we started walking down the beach. It was nice to have a moment to relax.  
Zach pulled me to a stop, and looked at me. "So beautiful." He told me, tucking a stray bit of hair behind my ear. I took of my sunglasses off, wanting to see his green eyes clearly.

"Cammie, I've been thinking." Zach said slowly. "I have loved you since that first day I saw you on that trailing mission, and we have been through so much, and right now, I don't want to lose you."

I raised an eyebrow- what had gotten into him? Zach went down on one knee, pulling a ring out of his pocket. "Cammie Morgan, would you do me the honour of marrying me?" He asked. My emotions went into overload. My heart skipped a beat and then started beating at a hundred beats a minutes. I didn't realise I was holding my breath until I exhaled.

I looked into Zach's eyes and said one word- "Yes."

Zach slipped the ring onto my finger, stood up and kissed me. "We don't have to get married right now, or even for a few years I just don't want to go anywhere else in the world without knowing that we are going to be forever." He whispered inbetween kisses. I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"We can figure all that out later. I love you." I told him. Zach grinned, putting his hands on my hips.

"I love you too. And you look amazing in that dress." He winked. I blushed again. I was about to kiss him again but I was ripped out of his arms.

My first thought was, what the hell is going on? and then all that I felt was pain exploding in my side. I looked down to see blood blossoming on my dress. I put my hand to my side, and when I took it away it was covered in blood. I stared dumbfounded at my hand, then towards Zach, whose face was horrified. I fell to the ground, my legs giving out. Zach was fighting to get to me, but he was being held back by something- by someone. I went to call his name but his name was stuck in my throat.

Agents who had the Italian flag on their shoulders started running towards me and Zach. A speedboat started racing towards the shore. Too late. Someone stuck a needle in Zach's neck and a few seconds later he was limp like a rag doll. The people who attacked us were wearing scuba diving suits, and they started dragging Zach into the water. They slipped an oxygen mask over his head and then disappeared into the ocean. They resurfaced a few metres away and got onto the speedboat, taking Zach with them.

I was struggling to breathe again. The pain was so severe I couldn't keep track of whether I was breathing or not. Everything around me turned... dizzy. Agents started shooting at the boat, but it was already speeding again. Someone on the boat took off their scuba diving mask, and shot a barbaric grin in my direction. It was Sara.

I collapsed fully onto the sand, choking on the air that I couldn't get to my lungs quickly enough. I watched helplessly as my blood trickled onto the sand. Before the world crumbled away, I saw my hand and the ring Zach had just given me, covered in blood.


	7. I'll Do It

**Sorry I took so long I wanted to build the suspense ;) **

**By the way, I wanted to thank you for reading Lying with the Truth and this story I know it's hard to find someone whose writing style and description of the characters and storyline you like, so thank you!**

This time wasn't like the other times I'd been shot. Before, I'd been shot, and fallen unconcious, or given morphine or chloroform. I'd woken up in a hospital bed a few hours later.

This time I woke up. In the middle of the surgery to get the bullet out. I felt it before I saw it- I was lying almost numb on a surgery table. It was fine at first until I heard two words- "Scalpel, please."

Dread filled my stomach, and the beeping on the heart rate monitor started beeping erratically.

"What's gotten into her?" One of the nurses wondered in Italian. I willed feeling to come back into my body.  
"Heart rate's shooting up, we need to get the bullet out now." A deep voice replied.

Oh, please, God no, please no. Something cut into my skin and before I realised what was happening I was screaming.

"Mio Dio!" One of the nurses breathed. "She's awake."  
The scalpel pulled away but the pain stayed. Then a morphine mask was put to my face and with each breath life turned blissfully painless...

I had a nightmare that night. I dreamt that I was waking up on the surgery table. I woke up screaming. "Cammie! Jesus, Cammie YOU'RE DREAMING!" A voice yelled at me, and strong hands pushed me down onto the bed.

I stopped screaming. The voice was right. I was dreaming. There was no more pain. I collapsed back onto my pillows, gasping for air. I looked around to see who was near me. Macey sat next to my bed, looking ruffled and tired. Underneath her eyes were purple shadows that almost looked like bruises.

"Zach." Was the first thing I said. Macey shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Cam. We haven't heard anything." She said sympathetically.

"What happened out there? How did they get through security?" I asked hotly.

"They- whoever they are- got onto the speedboat that had 3 Italian agents on them, knocked them out and waited until the two people who attacked you got onto the beach and got Zach. The agents on the beach thought backup was coming, that's why they didn't stop the ship."

Macey helped me sit up, but then pulled me off the bed to stand up. "Are you OK, Cammie?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be OK?" I asked her, despite the obvious reasons. But I didn't want to worry her.

"Not many people wake up in the middle of surge-"  
"Macey, I'm fine." I reassured her. "I'm a spy, remember?"

"Well then, since you're feeling so great, you can start getting dressed." Macey pushed me gently towards the dresser.

"Why do I have to get dressed?" I asked moodily, feeling like a little child telling her mom she doesn't want to eat her vegetables.

"You've got a visitor." Macey said darkly. Whoever was visiting me, she obviously didn't like.  
"Oh, yeah? Who?" I asked curiously, pulling a shirt over my head.

"Oh why ruin the surprise." Macey replied mysteriously. I raised an eyebrow, and after yanking on cotton shorts I followed down the hall. The pain in my side was a dull throb, but it was manageable.

"-go and jump off a bride would you?" Bex was suggesting to someone, obviously very annoyed. I walked into the room, and my mouth fell open. If the boy sitting at the table wasn't Zach, it was his twin.

"Oh, 'ello mate. And how you doing?" The boy smirked when he saw me, and spoke with a cockney accent. Bex scowled furiously.  
"What are you doing here, Sam?" I asked sharply.

"OK, so you're obviously not happy to see me then, I take it." Sam dropped the fake accent.

"Not until you explain to me what you're doing here?" I replied.

"You're not the only ones being targeted." Sam told me, leaning back in his chair. "Taking Zach was a shot at me too, and before that they took Lenny."

"Oh, my God." I breathed. Taking Liz's little sister was bad enough, but a little child? Even if she was Stephen Cavan's child, this was not acceptable.

"Exactly. About three months after your graduation, Sara went rogue. She's now part of a group who wants to take over everything- MI7, FBI, CIA, everything. They don't like being under everyone's control. So they're targeting everybody major in the spy association, including the Circle because Sara now hates Stephen, and you guys because Sara hates Cammie." Sam looked at me oddly.

"So what are you doing here?" I asked.

"I've come here with a proposal." Sam leaned in. "Stephen wants you to join forces with him so we can get everyone back."

There was silence for a moment before Macey cried out "Absaloutely not, are you insane?!" just as Bex yelled "NO NO NO NO NO NO NO" in as many languages as she knew, for no apparant reason.

I didn't realise I was speaking until Bex and Macey looked at me with dumbfounded looks. Sam raised his eyebrows, surprised and interested.  
"What did you just say?" Bex asked me.

"I said I'll do it."


	8. The More The Merrier

**Hey guys! I'm sorry I couldn't resist- please check out my newest fanfic, Dying Embers. It is the Hunger Games with the Capitol kids as tributes.**

**Anywho, back to the story!**

"I said I'll do it."

"OH HELL NO! MAYBE YOU'VE GOT A CONCUSSION OR SOMETHING, BUT DON'T YOU REMEMBER STEPHEN TRYING TO KILL YOU?" Macey yelled at the same time Bex screamed at me- "WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU?! WHY?! ARE YOU STUPID?!" which, to be honest, stung a little bit.

"No, I do not have a concussion, yes I do remember that Stephen tried to kill me and no I'm not stupid." I said calmly. "And I'm doing it because it's out best chance to get everybody back." I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Cammie, why do we have to team up with the Circle?" Bex said softly, pleading me to reconsider. "We can get those we've lost back any day."  
"Not any day soon, Bex. And not at all if we don't learn to accept a little help." I argued.

"I just don't see why or how you can trust him!" Bex pointed a finger accusingly at Sam.

"Because he was always on our side!" I yelled. Sam flung his arms up in exasperation- I wasn't supposed to tell, but I couldn't keep it a secret anymore. "He's a double agent."

Macey and Bex's jaws dropped. "You're kidding, right?" Macey asked me incredulously.

"No, she isn't." Sam answered for me. Macey looked from me, to Sam, then back to me, Bex just stared at him with mixed emotions (annoyance and maybe a little bit of admiration?). I glanced at Sam in surprise. He wasn't the type to reveal his secrets- just like Zach. In that moment, he looked so unbearably like Zach that my chest actually started aching. And then I realised I was missing something- an absense on my finger. My ring.

The pain in my chest escalated to panic. "Macey, you've never lost jewellry before. Where's the ring I was wearing?" I asked, my voice trembling a bit. It was one of the few connections I had left to Zach.

"It was on your dresser. Didn't you see it?" Macey frowned. "What even is it anyway?"

I didn't stay to answer her, I ran out the room and back to my room, even though it hurt my wound at my side. The ring wasn't on my dresser. It wasn't under my pillow, on the floor or in my nightstand either.

"Looking for this?" A cool voice asked. I looked up from my nightstand. Sam was leaning against the door to my room, my ring glinting in between his fingers.  
"Give it to me." I ordered him, reaching for the ring. At the last second, he snatched his hand back and held it up in the air where I couldn't reach it. "What are you, six?" I asked irritably, impatience creeping into my voice.

"Six and a half, actually." Sam countered. "I'll give it to you when you tell me what it means."  
"What it means?" I asked.

"Yeah. What does this ring mean? Chastity, purity, promise. Or does it mean what I think it means?" His eyes narrowed, but his pupils went really big.  
"What do you think it means?" I wondered out loud.

"Are you going to be my sister in law?" It was a question, but Sam said it like a statement. Sam's going to be my brother. I had never thought of it like that. The thought of Sam being my brother wasn't as horrifying as I thought it would be, it was actually comforting.

"Yeah. Me and Zach are engaged." I said. Sam pressed the ring into my palm, and to my surprise, he hugged me.

"Welcome to the mad family. You're gonna love it." He added the last bit sarcastically. He pulled back from the hug, his green eyes narrowing in detirmination. "Now let's go get your fiancé back."

The thought of getting Zach back sounded good. "How are we going to do that?" I asked Sam, looking into his bright green eyes that looked so much like Zach's. My Blackthorne boy.  
"We're going to go meet Stephen." Sam said simply. I ignored the dread building up in my gut.  
"Great. I'm all for it." I said unenthusiastically. I wasn't too keen about seeing Stephen again, even if I would do anything for Zach. "Where is Stephen, out of curiosity?"  
"England. He has an old family house there. But until then we don't have time. We're getting on a private jet to England, and we're going to talk to him via webcam." Sam explained. He paused for a moment before continuing- "Do you think you can get Macey to let us borrow her private jet?"  
"Consider it done." Macey's voice said behind us. "Only if me and Bex come with you."

Sam thought about it for a moment. "Fine."

"Great. The more the merrier." Bex said happily.

"Well, I'm glad you said that." Sam looked pained now. "Because their's someone else who wants to come with us."

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "Look, before you say anything, just know that if I had my own way she wouldn't be within five thousand kilome-"  
"You would think that you would be nicer to your mother, Sammy." An unfamiliar female voice drawled from around the corner.  
Red hair. Green eyes. Associated with fear, and pain. Her name formed on my tongue. _Catherine._

"Cammie! How good to see you again." She smiled barbarically. "I love seeing my dear Gallagher sisters again."

"Bex, Macey. This is mine and Zach's mother. Catherine." Sam's voice was tight.

"So. How's everyone been?" Catherine asked merrily, not taking her unblinking eyes off me. I had a horrible thought, which I pushed away. But it kept lingering in the back of my mind. Sam, I could deal with. But there was no way I could live with Catherine as my mom in law.


	9. Isn't It Obvious

"Stephen! How nice to see you again!" Catherine clapped her hands in delight. Stephen looked less cheerful to see her, even if she was on a plane over a thousand miles away from him.

In actual fact, he looked awful. He had dark shadows under his eyes that looked like bruises, but were probably from lack of sleep and he just looked... deflated was the only way to put it.

"Well isn't she a bright bubbly ray of sunshine." Bex muttered sarcastically under her breath. I think Catherine heard her, and her bubble of sunshine burst, her mouth narrowing into a tight line.

"Catherine. Macey, Rebecca, Sam, Cammie. Thank you for coming." Stephen told me on the screen, awknowledging my presence with a nod of his head.  
"It was in our interest to come." I told him immediately. Stephen nodded.

"Before we start our meeting, I'd like you to meet someone, my wife, Sophia." Stephen angled the camera so that it now fit him and his wife into the frame. She was beautiful, like one of those graceful ballerina dolls you get in musical boxes. She looked beautifully sad, like everyone seemed to look these days.  
I could see Lenny's image practically embedded in her delicate features- the pale hair, big round eyes, high cheekbones. Was it just me or did everyone get an extra dose of pretty, then when I was born the pretty simply ran out?

"Hello." Sophia greeted us, snapping me out of my thoughts. We all echoed her hello, all of us except Catherine.

"Can we skip the pleasantries and get to the part where we go to rescue my son?" She asked tiredly. Yep, her happy bubble had definitely burst.  
"We all have people who we want to save, Catherine, not just Zach." Sam told her, his voice eerily quiet.

" 'Catherine'? Just call me mother. Or mom if you insist." Catherine tutted, fiddling with Sam's hair. Sam went rigid, obviously not liking his mother's touch, but Catherine had never adapted to taking care of her first born, she only had one year with him before he was taken by his father away from the Circle.

"Yes, and we need to figure out who's got them, where they're being kept, and also, we need to figure out a game plan." Macey said, all business.

"Well we know Sara is involved with the group, and our sources believe they're calling themselves the Alliance." Sophia filled in. "As for where they are, we don't know. We have a list of residences and people Sara and her husband know, but it's hard to track down something you hardly know anything about."

"It doesn't make any sense." Liz said softly.

"What doesn't make any sense?" Somebody asked, but I was too focused on Liz to figure out who it was.

"Abe and Grace Baxter are two of the best spies in the world, Zach is a trained assassin and I've seen him pick open a Gregorovich lock in less than 20 seconds. It doesn't make sense that they haven't escaped by now. Even my sister knows how to pick open a lock, she used to do it to get into my room and borrow my books." Liz turned to the group.

"When we were taken, Zach tried to escape but he always failed because he stopped to save me." I offered. "Maybe they're trying to help eachother get out but they're always caught?"

"No man is ever left behind." Bex quoted from the Spy's Unspoken Rules book. Right after no man is ever left behind (Rule #128) was If and when diffusing a dangerous bomb, evacutate the area first.

"So where do we start? How do we get information?" Stephen asked.

"How about we send in someone to be our fly on the wall?" Catherine finally spoke up. Stephen and Sophia considered it a moment.  
"And who would you suggest?" Sophia inquired.

"Oh I don't know..." Catherine's eyes glinted as she looked around the plane cabin. "How about Sam?"

There was a long pause and then - "What? No way!" It took me a few seconds to realise I was the one who said it.  
"Well, Sara would recognise him immediately." I ammended. "And then we'd have another spy hostage."

"Actually, it's perfect." Sam said thoughtfully. "My story is, my dad was killed by the Circle, I joined them to gain information on them and now since they're going down I want to be on the winning team- Sara's team. It's the perfect story- she'll believe it."

"So that's it then?" Bex asked. "You're going to go find Sara and pretend to be part of the Alliance."

"Yes."  
"But how are we going to find her?" Macey wondered.

"We set a trap- lure her to bait." Sam said solemnly.

"The question is, who." Liz said what we were all thinking.

I felt useless while all this was happening- too many factors were out of control. I was almost relieved when I said, "Isn't it obvious? Me."


	10. Please

"Sam, please, don't!" I sobbed. Sam ignored me and kept yanking me by my hair into the abandoned Italian market square. Windows were closed, curtains were drawn, and people were cosy inside watching their television. The pouring rain was so loud it muffled my cries.  
"Sam, I'm begging you!" I couldn't tell if it was tears streaming down my face or just raindrops.

"Shut up!" Sam growled, and yanked my hair with such force I fell over. Blood from my knee started pooling in the dark puddles between the cracks of the cobbled streets. Sam ignored me and dragged me further still, into the center of the square, by a water fountain. Dread filled my stomach.  
"Sam, please, I-" My voice was cut off by my head being pushed underwater. I struggled to get back to the surface , lungs burning and aching for oxygen. Sam let go of me and I gasped for breath. My hair was dripping wet, even more wet than my thin blue draping sweater, my jean shorts and pretty much everything I was wearing.

I could feel the chill of the rain seeping into my bones, my fingers turning numb, shaking and pale white. I hope it was just my imagination but I think my fingers were turning blue. Sam perched on the marble edge of the fountain, as wet and cold as I was, though he wasn't shivering. His dark hair was plastered to his forehead. He looked nothing like Zach in that moment.

He looked relaxed like a lazy cat, but the gun in his hand didn't escape my view.

"Sam, why?" I whispered quietly, not sure he even heard me. I ignored the pain of the jagged pebbles pushing into the bare skin of my legs.

"You're the reason Zach's locked up, probably being tortured right now." Sam snarled. "It's your fault. You just couldn't keep away from him, could you?" And with that, Sam punched me.

I fell backwards, hitting my head on the stones. Blood started trickling from my eyebrow. I rolled over onto my back, painfully aware of every single ache and sting on my body.

"SARA! COME OUT COME OUT WHEREVER YOU ARE." Sam yelled into the empty square, putting his hands up.  
"Sam, we can find Zach, please, Sara tried to kill us." I begged him. I was getting weaker- the cold and the rain was wearing me down brutally.  
"If I'm going to get my brother back, I want to be on the winning side, where me and Zach won't die." Sam said calmly, but I could hear the tremor in his voice. I could feel the blood pounding in my head, the place where I hit my head, my eyebrow, seemed to have a pulse.

"SARA! I KNOW YOU'RE OUT THERE SO GET OUT HERE YOU-" Sam never got to finish his sentence, because Sara walked casually up to us as if she were greeting a friend. She was wearing a tight black clothes, dripping wet like me and Sam.  
"What do you want?" She asked sharply.

"I want to join you." Sam stood up. The ground started moving- or was it just my imagination?  
"Oh really?" Sara scoffed. "And what made you change your mind?"

"You have my brother, I want him back. If I joined you I would never have to see Catherine again and I could keep watch over Zach. It's a win-win situation. I get what I want, you get a valuable spy." Sam said logically, ignoring the rain that fell into his eyes.  
Sara seemed to consider it for a moment. "I'll think about it."

"Well, could you think faster? I think Cammie's little friends have found out where we are." Sam looked up at the helicopters that were not circling overhead.  
"What about her?" Sara jerked her chin towards me.

"She was bait- I knew you would show up if she was here. I don't care about her. Just leave her." Sam said. Sara looked overhead. The helicopters were looking for somewhere to land.

"Fine. But make one move I don't like and you're dead." She warned. Then she and Sam ran off, leaving me alone.  
"Cammie!" Bex called from the chopper that had just landed. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine." I whispered. "Sam did perfectly- Sara believed him."

"Good- we're in." Bex looked relieved. "Now let's get you stitched up."


	11. Stoneacre Manor

"Hey, anything new?" I asked Liz, who was staring at a computer screen and eating pot noodles with chopsticks.

"Nope." She told me curtly, trying to stick a chopstickful (is that even a word? If not it should be) of Southern Fried Chicken noodles in her mouth. Though me, Macey and Bex had to teach Liz how to use chopsticks hundreds of times, she never managed to do it. Theoretical physics was easy, but she couldn't use chopsticks to save her life.

"Why don't you just use a fork?" I asked tiredly, adjusting the chopsticks in her hand. She dropped the chopsticks into the bowl and started to use her fingers.

"Fingers are good too." She told me. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, but messy. Macey would kill you." I told her. Liz shrugged and turned back to the screen, using her toe to push against the table leg and lean back in her chair until it stood on two legs.

"So, what has been happening?" I asked meekly, not too sure what to expect.

"Well, Sam has a magnetic tracker, and wherever he goes in a specific place, like a building, the tracker sends the movement records to the computer, and it makes a 3D layout- see?" Liz clicked several things, and then I could see a layout of a building. Liz dragged the screen around to show the 3D layout. "Now, since Sam hasn't been everywhere in that building, we don't have the full image, but we have a pretty good idea of what's happening."

"Then what comes next?" I tapped my fingers impatiently on the desk.

"Sam's only been in with the Alliance for two weeks, that's nowhere near enough time to gain their trust. He needs to add cameras with mics to..."Liz trailed off and stared at the screen.

"You know, you didn't finish that sentence." I told her casually. Lix shushed me impatiently. "Don't shush me!" I cried out indignantly- not that it did much, Liz kept ignoring me. I sighed. "Could you at least tell me what's going on?"

"See this thing here?" She asked, gesturing towards a small black rectangle at the edge of the screen, covered in green lines that looked like the things on a heart rate monitor.

"The pulse-y thingy? Sure. What about it?" I shrugged.

"That pulse-y thing is the information recorder tracker." Liz told me. "Ever since Sam's been in the headquarters, it's been flat, dead. Now, it's moving."

"Is that good?" I asked.

"That's very good. It means Sam's finally starting to put in some cameras or mics. The problem is they're all connected to each other and they have all have the same firewall that stops any outside interference from-"

"In english, please?" I asked the super-genuis.

"To stop somebody from screwing up with the recorded data, they won't work once they're all set up." Liz dumbed it down for me.  
"Ohh," I nodded, excitement rising in my chest.

"Oh, my God!" Liz yelped as she lost her balance and the chair fell back. "Oopsy daisy."  
"You Ok?" I asked her.

"Ow." She told me in reply. I stifled a giggle and helped her up.

"This is amazing." She stated. I raised an eyebrow.  
"You falling over isn't amazing- it happens so often its almost mundane and boring." I told her. Liz shushed me again. "Again with the shushing! It's not your best quality!"

Liz ignored me and grabbed a pen and paper and drew about a dozen lines of dots and lines. She checked her work and rechecked it, then held out her work proudly.

I shrugged my hands in an empty gesture. "It's morse code!" Liz exclaimed. "Sam's a genius- if he connected all the devices and got them working, there wouldn't be any pulses, it would all be a continuous line! Somehow he's tapping out a morse code and making the pulses- see? Every time it spikes it's a beat, and depending on the length and the frequency, it makes a letter!"  
"Great, so can you translate it?" I asked.

"Have we met?" Liz told me sarcastically. It took her exactly forty-three seconds to write down the letters that matched the code, and when she was done she turned the notebook around for me to see.

"It's an address." I breathed. Liz squealed and grabbed my hand, pulling me down a hallway to the cafeteria where Bex and Macey were enjoying homemade Italian lasagne.

"I love Italy." Bex told me with a mouthful of lasagna in her mouth.

"I bet you do, but look what Liz found!" I pointed excitedly to Liz and her notebook.

"Holy crap!" Bex shouted- Well, she was so excited she shouted worse, but, still. Most of the spies in the room turned their eyes towards Bex and muttered about 'unladylike language' and 'those American girls'. "Actually I'm British!" Bex told everyone loudly.  
"Bex?" Macey asked politely.  
"Mm?"  
"Zip it." Macey told her. "Is that an address?" She turned to Liz.  
"Yeahuh!" Liz sat down and stole a bite of Bex's lasagne, which earned her the famous Baxter death stare. "Wow, this _is_ good. Anyway, I don't know whether its for the Alliance headquarters or for something else, and I don't have a laptop to search it's database.

"Use my phone." Macey offered, holding out her phone.

"When in doubt, Google it." Liz murmered as she typed in the address. A few seconds later she gave us a triumphant smile and told us, "Got it. Stoneacre Manor, in England." Bex whooped and clapped her hands.

"So when are we going?" I asked. "Is two hours enough time to get ready?"

"Absaloutely not! No, we are not going today, or tomorrow, or even in two weeks. One month, tops." Macey told me forcefully. "We need to plan surveillance, training, mission reports, everything that spies do before going on a mission. Absaloutely not!" She repeated.

I gaped at her. Why was she not calling up her private jet pilot right now, telling him to get the plane ready in one hour with lots of chocolate eclairs and and champagne. "Why the hell not?" I exclaimed.

"Because it's too dangerous!" Macey replied tartly.  
"Dangerous?" I narrowed my eyes. "Since when have you been afraid of danger? Jeez, what are you, my mom?"

"No, I'm your cousin, and I care about you and I'm saying no!" Macey shot back at me.

"Well Zach's my fiancé and with or without you I am going!" I yelled. Macey looked at me with an expression like a kicked puppy.

"He's your what?" She asked. I remembered, my friends didn't know Zach and I were engaged. Macey probably thought the ring was something I picked up somewhere.

"My fiancé." I repeated, liking the way the words felt. "He proposed on the beach, right before, the, erm..." I trailed off. Everybody knew what happened on the beach.

"So the ring was, in fact-"

"My engagement ring." I confirmed, my right hand instinctively fiddling with the ring. My hand now felt wrong whenever I took it off, even if it was only for a few seconds for the handprint scanner. I looked down and looked at it again. Zach knew me perfectly.  
It was an antique ring, and it probably had a lot of history, full of couples in love like me and Zach. It was silver was curved and etched with flowers, and the stone in the middle was deep orange like a flame and set in leaf shaped silver- keeping with the Gallagher flower tradition.  
"Oh...my...God..." My friends said in unison.

"So, you see, when I give up on Zach is going to be the day hell freezes over." I told them firmly, looking each one of them in the eye.  
"I'll go with you." Bex whispered softly, taking my hand and squeezing it.  
"So will I." Liz looked up at me through her fringe.

"Me too." Macey joined in. "Let me call my pilot."

It took us one hour to get ready, two hours to fly from Italy to England, and another hour to drive to Stoneacre Manor- which actually looked like a menacing castle more than a manor. It was surrounded by twelve foot high stone walls and metal gates. A golden plaque declared Stoneacre Manor a historical landmark.

It was built in the late eighteenth century to Lord and Lady Blackmoor, and called Stoneacre Manor because it's grounds stretched one hundred acres that had black stone buried deep within the ground. The manor itself was at least fifty metres tall made of dark black stone- complete with statues of women in robes, marble fountains, torch bearing sconses and a widows walk.

Bex let out an impressed whistle as we pulled up to the gates in our black SUV. "Well, its architecture doesn't suggest it's inner layout is like the one Sam's been wandering around, so I don't think these are the headquarters." Liz's face was illuminated by the computer screen.  
"So what is this then?" Macey wondered out loud.

"Only one way to find out." Bex unbuckled her seatbelt. She was halfway out the door when she remembered me and Macey. "Well? You coming?" She asked, and didn't wait for us to answer. I gave Liz a good luck smile and followed Bex into the chilly night. Compared to Italy, England was like a freezer, but Bex- being British through and through- didn't seem to notice it.  
Liz had designed specialist gloves- she called them Spider-hand gloves- that had a special fibre on them that made them stick fast to any surface. We could easily climb up the stone walls, since stone wasn't an electric conductor there was no threat of us being electrocuted by a security system.

We started climbing the wall in silence and at the top we sat on the three foot wide wall top, Bex dropped a gold coin onto the grass and waited to see if an alarm would sound. "Unfortunately for them the Manor is too old and fragile for them to install security alarms outside, but be careful on the inside. Only the West and North sections don't have security alarms, the rest do." Liz's voice whispered in our ears.  
We dropped down and Bex picked up her coin. "I'll go in the South, you guys take the North and West." She ordered us. Me and Macey nodded, and we each headed off in our own directions. I looked up at the stone walls and found my entry- a narrow window about twenty feet above me. The climb was relatively easy, the weathering of the rocks gave me loads of footholds and it was like climbing the rockclimbing walls in the Gallagher gym.

I used my laser glass cutter to open a section of the window so I could sneak in, and started down the cold, draughty corridors. The West wing was creepy- it was lined with rooms that had bars on the doors, some rooms that had only windows as entrances, and some that were normal with no bars on the doors. I shivered in the cold and tried my luck with the first room that had no bars on the windows. It was empty. I tried door after door, going down a maze of corridoors, trying to commit the way I went into my memory. Right, left, left, straight ahead, second left, third right, left.

It was a good thing Liz had given me a magnetic tracker too, so right now, me, Macey and Bex were drawing the layout of the Manor with every step. Hopefully if I got lost Liz would be able to lead me back out.

On the thirty-seventh door I tried (and yes, I was counting), I heard somebody sleeping, and then I saw a lump huddled underneath the covers on a bed. Liz had been busy in the few months we hadn't spoken- she had made night vision contact lenses. I crept closer to the figure and sighed in relief when I saw Zach.

My heart leapt and I felt slightly breathless. "Zach! Zach!" I hissed, shaking him slightly to wake him up. Zach woke up instantly and turned on a bedside lamp. When colour flooded back into the room, the night vision lenses turned off.  
Zach looked at me, his eyes scanning over every inch of my face.

"It's ok, baby, c'mon we need to go now." I said gently- albeit slightly impatiently- hoping Zach would snap out of his half-awake state. "Come on, Zach, we need to go."

Zach looked up at me with a confused look on his face. "I'm sorry, but who are you?"


	12. Carrie and Zane I Think?

"W-What do you mean, who am I?" I asked, rubbing my hands up and down his arms. If this was an act, I couldn't see it in his eyes. Zach stepped away from me, and that hurt so much it was almost unbearable.  
"Do I know you?" Zach asked me.

"Zach, you're really scaring me." I said, refusing to believe Zach had lost his memory.

"Zach... is that my name?" Zach thought about it for a moment. "So, you do know me, then?"

"Yeah, it's me, Cammie." I told him slowly. "Remember me?"

"No, but they told me things. They told me to stay away from you, that you were dangerous. Is that true?" Zach's expression almost broke my heart- wary, and completely untrusting.

"What? No!" I exclaimed. "Zach, look at my hand- see the ring? You proposed to me, I am your fiancée! We met a couple of years ago and we've been in love ever since. We've been to hell and back for eachother. You call me Gallagher girl and you have a brother called Sam and... is any of this making sense to you? Do you remember anything?"

Zach's eyes searched my face, and he stepped closer. "Why are you crying?" He asked, wiping away a tear with his thumb- he then looked at his hand as he was wondering what he was doing.

"Because I love you and it's killing me to see you like this!" I used the back of my hand to wipe away the rest of the tears. Zach was still wary of me. "Don't believe anything they tell you. You are good. And you have to come with me."  
"I can't. I don't know you. I don't trust you." Zach backed away from me.

"Yes you do, you just don't remember it!" I protested. I could hear footsteps at the end of the hallway. "Crap. I don't want to leave you behind. But I have to. And remember, if they mention the names Baxter, Bex, Sutton, Macey, Liz, McHenry or Sam, remember that they are good, and they are your friends."

Zach nods slowly, uncertainly. I turn to go, but slam headfirst into the chest of a tall muscly man dressed in black. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Muscles raised an eyebrow. He paused for a second before throwing a punch towards my face. I dodged the punch neatly, and tried to kick him. My foot stopped a few centimetres short of his belly, and Muscles grabbed my foot and used the momentum to throw me back. I slammed into Zach, causing him to crash against the wall and get knocked unconcious. Fortunately for me, Zach provided a cushiony landing.

"CAMMIE GET OUT!" Liz shrieked in my ear. I groaned and slid off Zach's unconcious body, using the bed to help me stand. Muscles advanced towards me, and I took a running start, bellyflopped onto the floor and slid between Muscles' legs and out the door. A blaring alarm started sounding.

"Macey, Bex, get the hell out of here, now!" I yelled while Liz tried to direct me out of the maze of hallways. It didn't work, Liz had to read the directions backwards, and from my perspective, not hers. It was too complicated to do in a short ammount of time and I got lost.  
I ran down random coridoors, just running away from the footsteps. I stopped short when I realised what I had done- run into a dead end.  
"You just don't give up, do you?" A familliar voice told me. I turned around to see Grace Baxter staring at me.

"Grace?" I exclaimed. Grace cracked her knuckles- this proved to me that the Baxters must've been brainwashed or something, like Zach, because if there was something Grace Baxter refused to do was crack her bones.

"Who else is here with you? Macey? Rebecca?" Grace cocked her head. "Where are they? Tell me!"

"Like hell I will!" I shouted, and in the spur of the moment I did the only thing I could do- I crashed through the window. My night vision turned on and I could see the ground coming closer to me in scarily perfect detail. I twisted my body midair and scraped my gloved hands along the sides of the wall, hoping it would slow me down.

It helped, but not enough. I crashed to the ground and banged my head on the grassy ground. I was on the brink of unconciousness, I heard somebody walking up to me.

"She's still alive." Somebody remarked. "Did the others get away?"

"Yeah." Another voice answered breathlessly. That provided me some comfort. "What do you want to do with this one?"

"Hm... give her the serum too." The first person commanded. "And put her and Zach into adjoining rooms. How is he, by the way?"

"He banged his head pretty bad, but he's awake now. He says he can't remember anything. Do you think he's telling the truth?" The second voice wondered.

"Yes, he trusts us too much to lie, and he thinks Cammie is the enemy, remember?" The first person assured the second one. "Come on. Get her to the infirmary. Have her checked over. And give her the serum as soon as possible."  
Then I blacked out.

I woke up to the face of a stranger leaning over me. To be honest, he looked a bit angelic- dark brown hair that flopped over his forehead, and beautiful green eyes.  
"Who are you?" I asked, testing out my voice.  
"I don't know," The boy admitted.

"Where are we?" I sat up slowly. My head hurt a lot.

"I don't know that either." The stranger told me, giving me a glass of water. "But I think we need to get out."  
"Why?" I wondered, putting the cup back on the bedside table.

"I'm not too sure. I'm going on a hunch. Look, there's no time to explain now, but you have to come with me now." Angel boy threw me some clothes from the dresser, and turned around while I got changed. "Do you know who I am?" I asked, pulling on jeans and layers of shirts and sweaters.

"Well, it's a little fuzzy, but I think your name was Carrie." The boy told me.

"Carrie." I tried it out, then shrugged. "I don't know. It sounds kinda right. Do you know your name?"  
"Yeah, you called me a name with a Z..." The boy trailed off.

"Zach?" I blurted out as a suggestion.

"I don't know... maybe Zane or something." The boy shrugged. "I don't know. Until I remember, just call me Zane."  
"OK. Zane." I finished getting dressed. "How do we know eachother?" I wondered aloud.

Zane considered it for a moment. "The ring on your finger. I think we're engaged." He pointed to a flowery ring on my left hand.  
"We are? Are we in love or something?" I had to admit, being in love with Zane the angel boy didn't sound like such a bad thing.  
"We'll remember, I hope. I think that the guys who put us here are the bad guys. So I think we need to hide out until the good guys find us." Zane took my hand and led me out of the room. I really shouldn't be so trusting of him, but I couldn't help it. He seemed nice, and I didn't know anybody else- heck, I didn't even know myself.

"And where are you two going?" Somebody asked us.

"Hey, Sara. My friend woke up and wanted to go for a walk. Is that OK with you?" Zane asked innocently.  
Sara looked uncertain. "Well, her blood tests turned out fine. Do you remember anything?" Sara turned to me. I glanced towards Zane, whose expression was blank.

"No, I don't know what's wrong with me, I can't even remember my own name. Do you know it?" I said innocently. It was sort of true, I didn't really know my own name, Zane had to tell me it was Carrie.

"No, sorry sweetie, we just found you outside. You were ill, so we gave you some medicine. Speaking of medicine, we actually need to get the medicine to some other people- could you help us?" Sara asked sweetly.  
"Sure. Can I go on my walk first? I hate hospital air." I told her. "Hey, at least I know that now!" I said brightly. Sara smiled, and let us go. She was smiling, but her eyes looked at us suspiciously.

Once we were outside, me and Zane walked slowly. Our bodies seemed to know what we were doing, our inner Carrie and Zane, the ones who had their memories, knew to wait until there was nobody around. No guards. Nobody. And then, we got gradually closer and closer to the edge of the gate... and we ran. Or, better said, we climbed. I didn't know how I knew to climb a gate, but my body did it so easily.  
Maybe I was an athlete... It was possible, I seemed quite physically fit. As soon as me and Zane were over the gate, an alarm started sounding. Zane jumped off the gate just before electricity started running through it. I was a second late, and I fell off the gate, static buzzing painfully under my skin. I had a weird feeling of déja vu about this.

There was a plaque on a stone pillar that named the building behind us Stoneacre Manor.  
"Zane- look." I pointed towards the plaque.

"Never heard of it. Come on, we need to hurry." Zane took my hand and pulled me into a run. I definitely had to be an athlete or something- We ran at full sprint for about ten minutes and I was barely breathless... and Zane was barely breathless as well.

We found a stray car, a metallic green Mini Cooper. Zane somehow managed to get into the car and hijack it- maybe we were bounty hunters. We were engaged after all, so we could have met through work. I thought about this while Zane drove away at eighty miles per hour.  
"Where are we going?" I asked Zane.

"America." Zane said.  
"You want to drive to America on half a tank of gas?" I raised an eyebrow. "And why America?"

"First of all, our accents. We sound American, don't we?" Zane pointed out. "And look at where the wheel is placed. On the right hand side- only European countries do that, don't they?"

"Yeah, I guess." Zane did have a point.

"I'll just drive to the nearest town and we'll pick up some supplies, plan our next move from there."  
"But we don't have any money." I argued.

"So we'll steal." Zane said grimly. "I think we were spies before, or something."

"Spies?" I wrinkled my nose. That didn't sound like a lot of fun- but then again, bounty hunters didn't sound so nice either. "How come?"  
"Well, few days ago you- the Carrie who remembered who she was- broke into my room and tried to convince me to get out. And then some muscly guy came, attacked you, and the next thing I know you're unconcious in a hospital bed and Sara is interrogating me on whether or not I remembered what you said to me." Zane explained. "I don't even know why I lied, but a couple of days ago, an 'inspector' came around, and came to visit me.

"She said her name was Agent Baxter, and the guy with her was somebody called Sam. Actual-Carrie told me if someone called Baxter or Sam showed up, I should trust them." Sam glanced at me. "So this Baxter girl and the Sam guy told me I had to get out, that we needed to hide until somebody else found us, that that's what they were going to do... Carrie, are you even listening?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, Baxter, Sam, hide, yadah yadah. I was just wondering if their names sound familliar..." I told Zane. Then I realised something. "Wait a second, say we are spies- how old are we?" I glanced down at myself. I seemed to be in my early twenties.  
"Twenties, maybe? Though it seems a but young..." Zane seemed to follow my train of thought. "Finally!" Zane exhaled as we pulled up to a little village.

"So what are we going to do here?" I asked.

"I guess... we go get some stuff. Gas for the car, food, hair dye, stuff like that." Zane told me.  
"Hair dye?!" I exclaimed icredulously. "Where'd that come from?"

"I- I don't know." Zane looked surprised at himself. "It seems... logical that we disguise ourselves?"  
"Zane, it's nearly five, it's going to be dark any second- I don't think anyone's going to recognise us in the dark." I pointed out.

"Fine. But we still need food." Zane told me. He parked the car on the side of the road and as we both got out, three other black cars drove by, and stopped ten metres down the road. Sara stepped out of one of them.

"You are so busted." Sara laughed. "Honestly, did you really think our cars didn't have trackers?"


	13. Meanwhile, In Scotland

**Hey guys, I know that some of you don't like Cammie and Zach losing their memories, but don't worry- they're spies, they've been trained to fight off this stuff. And don't worry, they will stick together, after all, most stories have happy endings, don't they? :) Zammie is still together, but now instead of Cammie and Zach, it's Carrie and Zane- temporarily. Just pretend that Cammie and Zach are undercover and their aliases are Carrie and Zane ;)**

Cammie/Carrie

It came at the most innapropriate time. Me and Zane were spies. We were on a plane. There was a stewardess with a gun. Sara. The rest was a bit fuzzy, but the next part was clear as crystal. We jumped out of the plane, smashed into the icy, stormy water below us. Zane- he pushed me underwater and risked his life to save me when part of the plane debris came hurtling towards us.

There was a feeling attatched to this memory- Love, and fierce protectiveness. I was in love with Zane. I knew that now. So we must have been spies, trained to fight off any memory serum or poison we would be given.

So, while I didn't know what to do, spy-Carrie did. "Zane." I whispered so that my mouth barely moved. "Run on three. One..."  
"Two..." Zane joined in. "Three." We said at the same time. We ran. Shots flew past us while we ran back the way we just came. Zane was driving so past we didn't even notice the tiny, narrow streets that were everywhere through the village. Zane pulled me down at least a dozen of those little streets before we got to a pub tucked away in the middle of closed shops.

"Are we even old enough?" I asked.

"I hope so." Zane told me. Just before we went inside I glanced up to see the name of the bar- Nobody Inn. Inside was warm and cheery, and it didn't have a bar smell- It smelled like beer, but not sweat or sick. It smelled like beer and mulled wine and hot chocolate with cinnamon sticks.

"ID." A surly voice near the door told us. Me and Zane glanced at each other worriedly.

"Nick, it's Ok." A bartender called to the man at the door. "Sixteen-Plus Saturday, remember? You kids are over sixteen, right?"

"Yeah." Zane answered for both of us. We walked slowly to the bar. "Are we in England?" Zane whispered to me. I nodded uncertainly- the bartenders accent was English, but it was weird. We must be in a strongly accented part of England.

"You didn't seem very sure about that." The bartender chuckled. "Never mind, you look at least nineteen." He handed me and Zane a mug of frothy hot chocolate.

"On the house. Are you two all right, you look like you've seen a ghost." The bartender smiled kindly. His nametag identified him as 'Christopher'. "What's happened to you?"

Zane gave him a ghost of a smile. "You wouldn't believe us if we told you." I shook my head at Zane. I didn't really trust anybody right now- well, except Zane.

"Try me, you never know." Christopher smiled. Zane glanced at me, and I shook my head again.  
"We need to trust somebody." He told me. "We have amnesia. And we're lost, and we don't really know what to do." Christopher whistled and rubbed a hand through his hair.

"Well, that's a toughie." He gave a shaky laugh. "Are you really telling the truth?"

I nodded earnestly- If I couldn't trust Zane, my fiancé, who could I trust? Christopher looked from Zane, to me, then to Zane again.  
"Do you even know what your names are? How long have you been wandering around without your memories?" Christopher leaned in- thankfully, he seemed to believe in us.

"We think our names are Carrie and Zane." I answered. "And I...actually only woke up this morning without my memory."  
"I woke up a couple of days ago without my memory, then Carrie found me and tried to get me to come home - wherever that is- and I don't know what happened but I woke up and she was unconcious, and when she came to she didn't know who I was." Zane explained.  
"Well, don't worry kids, we'll put up some 'missing person found' posters and get you home in no time." Chris tapped an excited beat on the bar countertop.

"No!" Me and Zane yelled at the same time. The bar quietened for a few seconds, but then everybody carried on with their business. Christopher put his hands up in surrender.

"Hey, okay, okay, no posters." Christopher reassured us. "I guess you guys are a little camera shy, huh?"

"Yeah, you could say that." I replied darkly. I knew it was a bad idea to trust somebody else, now Christopher wanted to go plastering mine and Zane's faces all over England- where Sara could see them and use them to find us before... our friends, I suppose, found us.  
"Look, you guys seem like nice kids, not like some of the others who live around here, so I'll make you a deal. This bar is also a bit of a failing inn, and I'm understaffed. I'll give you two a room here if you help me around at the bar." Christopher told us. I didn't know what to do.  
"Could you, erm, give us some time to think about that, please?" Zane asked. Christopher nodded and left to tend to his other customers.  
"I think we should do it." I said at the same time Zane said, "We need to get away."

"What? Why?!" I exclaimed. I may not like the idea, but I knew when to take help.  
"Because we are literally less that a hundres metres away from where Sara tried to kill us." Zane hissed under his breath.  
"Exactly! She'll never suspect it!" I argued. "We'll be..." I searched for the right words. "We'll be hidden in plain sight!" I finished triumphantly.  
"Riiight." Zane said sarcastically.

"Hey, you're the one who had to tell strangers we have memories worse than a goldfish!" I snapped. "Now, someone is willing to help us, and if we work here, we'll get enough money for a plane ticket to America."

Zane still looked uncertain. "Look, it's the best shot we have, and I trusted you on a hunch so you have to trust me on logic. Besides, you told me that Agent Baxter and that Sam guy were going into hiding, so why shouldn't we follow suit?"  
Zane gave me a weird look. "You remember all those details?"

I thought about it for a second. "Yeah, I guess I do. I think you were right about the spy theory." I said. "So, are you with me?"  
"Yeah. I mean, we are engaged after all. We're a team." Zane smiled at me. "It's weird to think that I'm in love with you."  
I frowned at him, offended. "Oh, no, no! I didn't mean it that way!" He said quickly. "I just meant, it's weird that I'm in love with you but I just can't remember it."

"Oh. Well, back at you. So, let's tell Christopher?" I suggested.

"Sure. Uh, Christopher?" Zane called to Christopher to catch his attention. "We wanted to accept your deal."  
"Great! And it's Chris, Christopher is my father." Christopher beamed. "Unfortunately, we only have one room- I mean, we have seven, but one's for my wife and my self, one's for my kids, two are already taken and two are going under redecoration. One room is all we have left, but we'll have another one available in three weeks- is that okay with you guys?" Chris asked worriedly.

"Sure. Why not." Zach gave a sarcastic half-smile. "Just getting a headstart on our marriage, apparantly." He said to me, quietly.  
"Great!" Chris said enthusiastically. "And next, a Nobody Inn special, on the house, in celebration of my new employees!" And with that he put two huge plates of food in front of us- with roast potatoes, gravy, chicken, peas and baby carrots, the works.

"Did you know we were going to say yes?" I asked, digging into the food. I hadn't realised how hungry I was. In actual fact, when was the last time I had eaten.  
"I had a hunch." Chris winked.

**SAM**

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Bex shrieked at me.

"Calm down, unless you want the whole of Scotland to hear you." I told her, ducking as she threw her high heeled shoe at me.  
"YOU WANT ME TO CALM DO- You want me to calm down?" She lowered her voice, trying to disprove my point. "Why. Did. You. Do. This?"  
"You were unconcious, I couldn't very well wake you up so we could agree on where to set up camp, so I made a decision for the both of us." I explained.

"You made the wrong decision!" Bex threw her second heel. It skimmed past the side of my face, the sharp stilletto heel sticking firmly between to wooden boards.

"Ha. You missed." I regretted the words as soon as they were out of my mouth- it was best not to encourage her to try again. Bex gave me a death glare- and I had to admit, with her dark hair mussed and her eyes wide and bright with anger, she looked gorgeous.  
"You're saying, because I got hit by sleep gas, I have to suffer to consequences and stay here with you?!" She growled.

"That's the Cliff Notes version, yeah." I shrugged. Bex looked for another thing to throw at me- the closest thing was a stuffed teddy. Within half a second she threw it at me. It hit my face. "Ouch." I said sarcastically, putting a hand over my heart and feigning to be hurt.

"Fine. Pretend I understand that there was no time, that you couldn't have kept driving until I woke up to figure out where we were going to hide out, but WHY the bloody hell did you decide to coop us up in a cabin in Middle-Of-Nowhere, Scotland?" Bex said angrily.

"I was planning on escaping from the alliance in a few weeks, but now that they think you kidnapped me, this place is the perfect hideout- nobody's around, they won't even think to come here!" I pointed out. Bex sighed, knowing that even if I was right, there was nothing she could do about it.

"Fine. I'm going to go get changed- you do have clothes here, right?" She narrowed her eyes.  
"Down the hall, second right. Full of clothes." I told her merrily.

"Fine." Bex said, taking off the gray jacket that made up her pantsuit. The shirt below it was quite sheer and see through. "And wipe that smile off your face, there's nothing to be happy about."  
"Yes ma'am." I sat down on the sofa lazily.

"Do it then!" She told me. I quickly stopped smiling, but inside I was laughing. This was going to be fun.


	14. Sleepless in Scotland

**CAMMIE/CARRIE**  
"And sign your names here." Chris pointed towards a dotted line at the bottom of the employment contract.

I signed mine Carrie, and wondered if that was what my handwriting actually looked like. "Erm, first and last names." Chris reminded me. Me and Zane looked at eachother, just as two guys at the back of the bar started fighting. "Hey, hey, hey! Sorry, I'll be right back." Chris excused himself to go tend to his arguing customers.

"What are our names going to be?" Zane murmered.

"I don't know, just make them up, I guess." I whispered back.  
"Isn't that illegal, or something?"

"Yeah, and shooting after people without reason isn't?" I reminded him of what Sara had done an hour earlier- or, what she tried to do.  
Zane sighed. "Fine. I'll be Zach... Thorne." He made up. "You?"  
"Mmm... Gallagher." I decided.

"Gallagher? Is that irish or something?" He wondered.

"I don't know. It just feels right." I told him while I signed my name- Carrie Gallagher- alongside his, Zane Thorne. I wondered if we did get married what it would be like to be Carrie Thorne.

Don't go there, I warned myself. The chances of us fully getting our memories back- unlikely. Chance that me and Zane will fall in love all over again- Very unlikely. Chance that me and Zane are going to get married- Unlikely to ever happen, ever.  
"So what do we do now?" I asked.

"Now, we sleep." He said tiredly, taking the room key from Chris and tugging me up the weathered stairs that creaked with every step, to the Chrysanthemum Room. I had a feeling of déja vu as I saw the word chrysanthemum, and it hit me so unexpectedly I didn't pay attention to where I was going.

"Oopsy daisy!" I exclaimed as I tripped up the stairs. Zane caught me neatly and carried me the rest of the way to our room.  
"Can't have you breaking yourself." He told me. I bit back a smile. Zane was so lovely, it was hard to imagine not being in love with him.  
"Look." I said softly, my fingers tracing over the letters m u m. Mum, as in mom. "I wonder if we have parents out there somewhere."  
"A mom and dad who are waiting for us? Probably." Zane told me, walking into the room. He put me down on the bed and looked around- there was no sofa.

"Zane, relax. I'm guessing this isn't the first time you and me have shared a bed." I raised an eyebrow. I didn't have any other clothes- I would just take off my sweaters and sleep in my shirt and jeans.

"Fair point." Zane said awkwardly, taking off his shoes- sleeping in his sweater and jeans like me.  
"Do you think they're worried?" I asked.

"I don't know." Zane told me. "Go to sleep Carrie."

"Are we going to be Ok?"

"Go to sleep, Carrie." Zane repeated, though I could hear the smile in his voice. "Good night."

**SAM**

"Go to sleep, Bex." I told Bex tiredly, stuffing a pillow in my face to block out the light.  
"Nope. You keep me in here, you live with the consequences." Bex told me grimly. She was doing a one-handed handstand on the back of the sofa where I was trying to sleep. "Besides, I have to keep in shape." She told me this even if she was perfectly balanced. Her baggy crop top slid down her belly to reveal a studded bellybutton.

Bex put her right hand down onto the back of the sofa, and leaned forward until she gracefully tumbled into my lap. "You mind?" I asked her, lifting a corner of the pillow up so I could see her better.

"Not even a little bit." She said simply, fiddling with her nails.

"What d'you think Cammie and Zach are doing?" She wondered.

"I don't know. Maybe they've escaped- Zach did look like he was taking on some of the information you gave him." I reassured her. She at least seemed to like me more than she had last year, now that she knew I was never her enemy.

"Yeah, but he's kind of kookoo for cocoa puffs now, isn't he?" She reminded me. I raised an eyebrow in confusion. Bex sighed. "He's a bit whacko- got it?"

"Hey, my brother is not whacko, he's just confused!" I defended Zach. "And the same goes for Cammie."  
Bex looked taken aback. "You think that she was given the brainwashing thing too?"  
"I know it. I heard Sara and somebody else talking about what to do with her, and they decided on giving her the serum." I told her.  
"When did you hear that?" She asked curiously.

"After you and Macey ran away- guess who was there to stop the guards from catching you?"  
Bex looked at me weirdly for a moment. "Huh. Thanks... I guess."

"You're welcome." I told her, surprised. Bex wasn't the thanking type. A phone on the table started vibrating. The Caller ID said UNKNOWN.  
"It's for you." I told Bex, handing it to her.

"What? No it isn't! You answer it." Bex shoved the phone away from her.  
"Rock paper scissors?" I suggested. Bex got scissors, I got rock. "Ha!"

"Oh shut up." She sneered sarcastically. "Yello? Oh, hey Mrs Morgan. Jeez, don't you know what time it is?" Bex slapped a hand over her mouth and I laughed silently at her bluntness.

Bex gave me a look that could kill, and put the phone on speaker so I could hear what was being said. "...-becca, it's 6pm. Why, where are you?"

"Scotland... and it's one in the morning." Bex winced.  
"Scotland? I thought you were supposed to be in Italy." Rachel said.

"Oh yeah, but you know... stuff happens..." Bex improvised. My body shook with silent laughter.  
"Oh, I heard." Rachel Morgan took Bex's uncertainty to mean that she was upset. "I am sorry about Abe and Grace." Bex's expression changed at the mention of their names.

"It's fine. We'll get them back. Just like we're going to get Zach and Cammie back."  
"YOU'RE GOING TO DO WHAT?!" Rachel shrieked down the phone. Bex winced.

"Cammie and Zach are... undercover! Yeah, but we're going to get them back. Real soon, I promise." Bex said quickly. "But we can't right now we're sort of stuck in a cabin in Scotland."

"What? How? Why?" The agent in Headmistress Morgan started to show as she interrogated Bex.

"Well, me, Macey and Cammie went round to the Alliance headquarters, and someone triggered the alarm, and Cammie said she was going to stay behind, and since there was no time to argue, we trusted Cammie." That wasn't true- they were found out, Cammie got lost and now she was brainwashed. "And then I went back the next day, undercover, to get Cammie and Zach out, but I was found out and somebody threw a sleeping gas bomb after me, and Sam got me out but made it look as if I had kidnapped him. Now we're just waiting for the opportune moment to get back." That part was true. "By the way, why did you call? And how's Mr Solomon?"

"I called because Gallagher Academy is temporarily closed down. The professional spy communuty world is not the only thing under attack from this Alliance, as you call it." Rachel began uncertainly. "And I was wondering if you could help hide my one or two of my sophomore classes. The freshmen don't really know a lot yet, so they're not under attack, but anybody from sophomore year and older are considered threats and I'm running out of places in Virginia and Virginia-adjacent to keep students safe."

"Gee, Mrs Morgan, you want us to babysit?" Bex wrinkled her nose. "Can't help you there, being in Scotland and all."

"Bex you know very well that we have planes." I practically see Rachel Morgan rolling her eyes on the other end of the line.  
"Yeah, but after what happened to Cammie and Zach, you wouldn't really want to ris-"  
"What happened to Cammie and Zach?!" Rachel yelled. Bex held the phone away from her.

"I blame you for this!" She hissed at me. My leg started going numb- Bex was still sitting on my legs and she was cutting off my circluation. "No, nothing happened. I mean, something did happen, Sara poisoned them and put a bomb on the plane, but they're fine. Wow, I never realised just how much you looked into every single thing Cammie did."

"Rebecca Baxter you tell me everything that has happened to my daughter since she graduated- right now!"

Bex bit her lip. "Well, Cammie and Zach are private agents, mine and Macey's parents were taken, Liz's super-smart little sister was taken, Zach got kidnapped, Cammie got shot- oh, and Zach and Cammie are engaged. OK, gotta go now- bye bye!" Bex said in a rush. She hung up the phone and in two moves opened the back and took the battery out.  
"Are you sure that's a clever thing to do?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Yup. And next time the phone rings- you answer it!" She told me. "And on that note, I'm going to bed." Bex hopped off my legs and walked into the bedroom.

"Finally!" I exhaled, wiggling my toes to get feeling back into my legs.

"Good night." Bex called to me sweetly. I rolled my eyes and turned over, falling asleep in minutes.

I woke up three hours later at 4:19am. I wondered why I woke up until I heard a suspicious noise coming from Bex's bedroom. Crying. I was torn for a moment- do I stay here, or do I go to her? What would Cammie do?  
I crept to Bex's room silently, still unsure of what to do. Do I knock, or not?

I knocked quietly twice. Bex's sobbing stopped for a few seconds, then carried on. I opened the door gently. Bex was just a dark shadow huddled near the headboard of the bed, shaking.  
"Bex?" I asked softly. "What's wrong."

"Nothing. Bad dream."  
"It's obviously not a bad dream." I sounded more sure of myself.

"My parents." She said simply. I knew what she was talking about. I had seen the CCTV footage. Bex's parents were the closest to her when she was found out. They tried to stab her, tried to choke her. They didn't even realise she was their daughter.  
"I know. I'm sorry." I sat down on the bed and wrapped my arm awkwardly around her shoulders.  
"Yeah, me too." She said, crying harder.

"Liz'll find a cure, I promise. Then everybody's going to be okay and life's going to go back to normal and it's all just going to be fine." I tried to soothe her, but honestly, emotions weren't my forte.

"It just seems like everybody's changing all of a sudden. And everybody's leaving"

"Well, I'm not going anywhere."

Bex said nothing, but cried in my arms all night.

**AN- When Bex said 'yello', it wasn't a typo, it's like "Yeah, hello" but put together, just in case you didn't realise ;)**


	15. Kaboom

**Thanks guys for the lovely reviews and some of you asked, what's going to happen with Bex and Sam- that will be revealed in the chapter after this one!**

"Put this on," I told Bex, tossing her a thick duffel coat. Bex's eyes were still bloodshot.  
"Why?" She asked, her voice sounded hollow.

"Emotions are a spy's greatest weakness. You need a release- something to cheer you up." I told her. "And I hear you like to ski."  
Bex actually looked better at the mention of skiing. "Skiing? At this time?"

"Why not?" I shrugged, putting on layers of thermal shirts. "People come to ski in Scotland all the time, and we have some time to kill..."  
Bex gave me a small smile. "Sounds good." She said, turning the TV onto the news channel, then standing up to make coffee. She and I carefully watched the news, looking for anything to do with Zach or Cammie.

I hoisted myself up on the counter and stirred sugar into my coffee while the news report started.

"-Skiing season is now oficially open, and hundreds of tourists from all over the UK are coming to Scotland to enjoy the freshly snowed-over hills and mountains." The news reporter was saying. "Speaking of skiing in Scotland, three lucky girls have won our Morning Show paid for ski-and-spa resort trip- we're going live to the Scotland Resort where the lucky winners Larissa, Hanna and Katia are staying."  
"Thank you, Fern, I am here with Larissa, Hanna and Katia, who are very excited to go skiing." The other reporter said. "Girls, tell me, why did you enter the competition?"

"Because we all love spas, skiing and Scotland!" They chorused. The male reporter laughed and continued the interview but I tuned out. Bex put down her coffee and walked into the bedroom to put on thermal tops, socks and skiing pants and a skiing jacket. Even through all the thick layers she looked slender and elegant somehow.

"Come on, I doubt anything interesting is going to come up on the news. Zach and Cammie may not have their memories, but they're not stupid." I told Bex, handing her yellow-tinted ski glasses, then shrugging on some skiing clothes of my own.  
"Hey, Sam, where's the ski- oh, never mind, I've found them!" Bex called from the closet where the snowboards and skiis were kept.  
"Great. Let's go." I took a snowboard from her. Bex hesitated at the door of the cabin.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" She asked.

"Come on, where's your adventurous side?" I taunted. "I'll race you down the hill."

Bex accepted the challenge and immediately started racing down the hill with a laugh. "Hey, that's cheating!" I called, racing down the hill after her. I weaved my way through the big boulders that covered the mountain, and caught up to Bex. As we reached a hundred-metre mark near the bottom of the hill we started to have to slalom through the occasional block of tourists.

Bex reached the bottom a second before I did, turning to stop so sharply I couldn't manouver around her, and ended up crashing into her, knocking us both to the ground. We rolled down the small descent of the hill, stopping with Bex on top of me, her glasses knocked astray, snow covering her dark plaits.

She surprised me when she laughed. "Smooth, Sam." She giggled. Her laugh was infectious and before I knew what was happening, I was laughing too. A male skier came up to us to help us up. He helped Bex up and then offered me his hand.  
"Thanks, man." I thanked the stranger in a thick Scottish accent.

"What are you doing here, Sam?" The stranger said calmly. "There's no time for fun and games when the Alliance is trying to find you."  
"Who are you?" I bristled. Bex was holding her ski poles in a way so that she could use them as an offensive weapon if she needed to. The stranger took off his ski glasses and hat, and I immdiately recognised him. "Gabriel." I breathed. "What are you doing here?" Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Bex looking at us uncertainly.

"What am I doing here?" Gabriel said icredulously. "What are you doing here? The Alliance headquarters are literally a stone's throw away from the Scottish border. And somebody traced your call from Rachel Morgan, Gallagher's headmistress."  
"What? Who? How do you know that?" I demanded.

"I don't know who- thank God you turned the phone off otherwise you would have found out who was tracing you the hard way." Gabriel told me solemnly. "Luckily for you I was trying to find you as well, and I have better equipment. Look we need to go."  
"Fine. Bex, come on." I turned to Bex who was staring at me and Gabriel.  
"Can you trust him?" She jutted her chin towards Gabriel.

"Rebecca Baxter." Gabriel whistled with respect. "Nice bodyguard you have here Sam."

"He can take care of himself." Bex said coldly. "And so can I. And don't ever call be Rebecca again."

Gabriel put his hands up in surrender. "Fine, whatever. Oh, and not to be dramatic, but come with me if you want to live."

Bex and I rolled our eyes. "Fine. Let's go back to the cabin." I said, taking off the snowboard and putting it under my arm.  
"Only for a few minutes though." Gabriel warned us. "We need to move as quickly as possible."

"Fine. Come on then." I said. We all jogged to the ski lift which would take us up the mountain, fifty metres to the east of the cabin. The ride was almost unbearably slow, and it took us ten minutes to get up the mountain, whereas with skiis and snowboards it only took three minutes to get down it. In the cart behind us, we could hear Gabriel muttering impatiently.

"Finally." Gabriel sighed once we stepped off the lift. "Hurry up then." He started following me and Bex as we skied towards the cabin. It took us two minutes and forty eight seconds to get to the cabin, and which point Gabriel took off his skiis and quietly went to open the door. Me and Bex hovered behind him.

"It's clear." Gabriel reassured us. "So we just need to get, what, clothes, fake id's an- oh, that's explosive! THAT'S EXPLOSIVE GET OUT!" Gabriel turned around to run and push us out, just as the cabin blew up.


	16. So Much To Do

**Hello- sorry I haven't uploaded in ages but I had to take almost a week off, I got out of England to celebrate my nephews first birthday yay. Anyway, enjoy the chapter and please review :) If you review and you have a fanfic account, I'm always looking at your stories, and if you ask any questions I will always answer them! :D**

* * *

"Zane, how do you make a cosmopolitan?" I asked Zane nervously, fiddling with a fancy drinking glass in my hand. A businesswoman with a stern face and thick rimmed reading glasses was waiting impatiently for her drink.

"Here- on the cheat sheet Chris gave us." Zane pointed to the sheet of drinks and drink ingredients. I usually would have been confused but thankfully Chris taught me and Zane how to measure 'parts'. I put the cloudy pink drink down in front of the customer a few seconds later, relieved when she gave a small appreciative smile.

In the corner of the bar there was a news report on the television about a cabin explosion in the hills of Scotland. The estimated time of the explosion was about 1:45 pm, and now it was almost two-thirty and no survivors had yet been found. I was about to start cleaning up some glasses when suddenly Zane gripped my arm, and started dragging me backwards. "Look who just came in." He hissed into my ear. My head snapped up to see a familliar dark-haired figure. Sara. It wasn't a surprise she had come looking for us here. This village we were in seemed small but it was an apparantly popular bar, and only a day had passed since we escaped.

I backed away quickly until Zane took my to a tiny storage cupboard full of drink bottles. The light was off and the darkness smothered us like a blanket. In a second, something on my eye warmed up a little, and suddenly I could see, but everything was green like I was looking through night-vision glasses.

"Holy crap." I exclaimed quietly. Zane's head snapped towards me.  
"What is it?"He asked.

"I can somehow see in the dark." I explained, blinking with surprise. I could feel a contact lens moving around on my eye- I couldn't believe I didn't realise it earlier. I mean, the first night in the room there was moonlight coming into the room, illuminating the room with pale white light... and in the town there were streetlights. But this was pitch black- or at least, it was supposed to be.  
"How?" Zane's eyebrows quirked up with curiosity.

"I don't know- is there such a thing as night-vision contact lenses?" I wondered. I looked around the room, testing out my new ability,and my eyes caught on the words "Sam Finnegan's Finest Whiskey."

_My eyes hovered over the name Sam... did it mean anything to me? Then I remembered what was probably one of my most saddest memories._  
_"Zach, how are you, about all this?"I asked, sitting next to him. Zach... his name was Zach... he looked so young and vulnerable. _  
_"I have a brother I never knew about turn up to my school with a bullet wound in his shoulder, a few months after my mother tries to kill the girl I lo-" Zach cut himself off. Say it, Zach. Tell me you love me. I know that's what you were going to say... To my dissapointment, Zach didn't tell me he loved me, but I focused on something else..._

_He has a brother. A brother who was shot... I wonder if he survived. The next part was a bit blurry but a few words stood out. "I'm suspicious."_  
_"What? You're suspicious?" I asked incredulously._

_"Yeah, I kind of am. If your dad walked through that door right now, wouldn't you be suspicious?" Zach asked. I didn't know why, but I was hurt. Maybe I didn't like my dad? Luckily, Memory-Carrie knew what to say._

_"I don't have the privilege of being suspicious when family members turn up, because I know my dad is dead." My voice was venomous. Zach looked like he'd just seen a puppy being kicked. He was sorry for saying that, but I was even more sorry._  
"My dad is dead." I said in a hushed whisper.

"What?" Zach asked, leaning closer to me and brushing a tear off my cheek.

"I just remembered some things. My father... is dead." I sniffed. It felt silly to be crying about someone I didn't even remember, but if my father was dead, was my mother dead as well?

"Carrie, I'm sorry." Zach stepped closer to me and wrapped his arms around me, resting his chin on my head.  
I took a deep breath and continued speaking. "You have a brother. And your name isn't Zane... it's Zach."  
"Zach... well it's a start. Still can't remember my last name though." Zach smiled ruefully.

"Maybe this'll jog your memory." My heart skipped a beat nervously as I did something that I wouldn't normally have the courage to do. I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed Zach. I was almost relieved when he didn't pull away, but kissed me back. After a moment, he did pull away  
"Zach... Zach good." He said

I raised an eyebrow. "What? I mean, you're a hell of a kisser, I'll give you that, but why are you complimenting yourself like a caveman?"  
"What?" It was Zach's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Only cavemen talk like "Zach good" or "Apple yummy" or stuff like that." I explained. Zach shook his head with a smile.  
"Not Zach good, Zach G-O-O-D-E. Zach Goode. I just remembered that's my name." He smiled. "And I remembered something else... you are one of the only people I trust, one of the only people I love." Zach leaned down and kissed me again. I could feel myself blushing. My hand moved out of habit, twining my fingers through Zach's dark silky hair. "And your name is Cammie." Zach pulled back and whispered. Just a split-second after he said my name, the door handle turned and the door started to open...

* * *

"Dammit, Sam, do I look like I'm in the mood to give a flying crap?" Bex snapped at me- I mean, she said worse than that, but I pretended to ignore her swearwords and fill them in with more polite words.

"Do I need to knock you out again?" I warned her dangerously. Bex scoffed and rolled her eyes. I took a swiss army knife out of my pocket- you can never be too prepared- and started cutting away the tight shirt material that covered Bex's swollen shoulder. Bex gritted her teeth from the pain and the cold of the snow that surrounded us. I took off my jacket and wrapped it around her half that wasn't injured.  
"Aren't you going to be cold?" She asked.

"Nope." I replied simply, even though I could feel the hair on my arms rise from the cold. At least we were sort of sheltered- I had taken us into a sort of mini-cave hidden in the mountains, but the cave was only a metre or so big, and snow still powdered the ground in the cave. "Does this help?" I asked, picking up some snow and putting in onto her shoulder.

"It's dislocated, Sam. Ice doesn't help. Just put it back in the bloody friggin' socket, and let's go." Bex told me.  
"I can't, Bex, I don't know where else you're hurt." I told her calmly.

"You're a pain in the arse, you know?" She told me.

"Does that mean you broke your ass too?" I asked sarcastically. Bex gave a small laugh.  
"Please? Put me out of my misery?" She asked, politely and sweetly this time.

"I'm sorry, not yet." I told her, taking a tiny medical kit from a hollow compartment in my snowboard. Basically it was just some disenfectant wipes, a needle and thread, and bandages. I dabbed at Bex's eyebrow with a wipe, and threaded the needle. Bex leaned away from the needle when I came closer to her.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of needles?" I said incredulously At the dubious look on Bex's face, I asked a different question all together. "You don't trust me, do you." It was more a statement rather than a question, really.

"Why wouldn't I trust you?" Bex asked, but I didn't miss the fact she was avoiding my question.

"Ah, let's see, I was slash still am with the Circle of Cavan, I helped kidnap Cammie and Zach, and it's my fault you're here right now?" I offered a few suggestions.

"It's not you're fault I'm here, Sam." Bex told me quietly. "And you were always on our side. It doesn't count."  
"Oh, it counts all right." I said darkly. I had always felt protective of my younger brother, and I was willing to sacrifice Cammie to keep him safe, until I realised how much he loved her, and I sacrificed ever gaining Zach's trust instead.  
"You do realise you're bleeding?" Bex pointed out to me, changing the subject again.

I looked down to see my hands were covered in bruises and cuts, my sleeve was covered in blood and so was part of my chest and stomach. "I'll make you a deal, you put my shoulder back in place, I'll stitch you up." Bex offered.  
"I can stitch myself up." I told her.

"You're shaking." She noted. "You know how to put a shoulder back in place, right?" She asked, taking away her left hand to nudge herself into a lying position. I carefully took Bex's right hand with one hand, and held her body still with the other hand.  
"Of course I do." I reassured her. Bex winced with every movement but she didn't make a noise- something which made me respect her and like her courage. Wait- was I starting to like Bex? I pushed the thought from my mind as I slowly started pulling her arm upwards, until I felt a pop tremor beneath her skin. Bex sighed with relief.

"Thank you, Sam." She told me, genuinely grateful. She took the needle from my shaking hand and pulled me onto her ski coat, which I had put her on to keep her dry.

After the cabin exploded, I tried to push her down, but only managed in landing half on top of her, resulting in multiple bruises and scratches for me, but a dislocated shoulder and cuts for her. She hit her head and got knocked unconcious, and once again I had to carry her to safety.  
Just before I left, Gabe told me he would be back in half an hour with our transport to safety. My internal clock told me it had been almost an hour since Gabe left. I wasn't worried about him though- he was a surprisingly tough kid.

"Where's your friend?" Bex asked as she started stitching a cut on my wrist, dangerously close to my veins.  
"He's gone to get our ride, apparantly." I said, watching her careful and precise movements as she finished my wrist cut, and started on the others.  
"Dear God." Bex breathed.  
"What?" I asked worriedly.

"Your abs are gonna be ruined." She said, pretending to be horrified. "How will you ever survive with the ladies? This could be fatal..."  
I rolled my eyes. "Worst day of my life. Become a spy and pay the price." I flinched a little as I lay down on her coat. Bex laughed as she wiped the blood away from my stomach. Like most male spies, I was typically physically fit- meaning, I had muscles everywhere. But, I also had scars everywhere, it was no biggie.

Bex quickly finished the stitches on my abdomen, and lifted up my shirt even more to start stitching a cut (which I'm not too sure how I got) three inches below my collarbone.

"What's this?" Bex asked curiously, poking at something on my belly. I knew what she was talking about.  
"It's quite stupid really. I was about seven years old and my dad was making barbeque, and I leaned over the grill to check on one of the burgers, and I sort of caught on fire." I explained sheepishly. Bex grinned at me, and finished my last stitch.  
"That's nothing compared to what I did when I was seven."

"I'm intrigued." I pulled my shirt down and sat up.  
"I was bored, my dad was finishing some roof repairs and he left the ladder leaning against the wall, so I took one of those plastic sledges and, well... you can guess what happened. Long story short, I cracked my head open and broke my wrist." Bex shrugged. "My mom wasn't so pleased, but my dad laughed."

"Fine, you win." I gave in. Bex shifted onto her knees and smiled winningly.  
"By the way, I wanted to say thank you. For... saving my butt back at that Alliance house, and saving my butt here, and... last night." Bex swallowed like it was hard for her to reveal her emotions, which, being a spy, it probably was.

"S'no problem." I shrugged it off. It wasn't exactly like I was going to leave her in any of those situations.

"Still, thank you." Bex said. "See, we can get along?" She said enthusiastically. I laughed at her way of breaking the ice. The phone Gabe had given me an hour ago just after the cabin exploded started beeping, meaning that I got a text.

It was from Gabe- it said an address and told me to hurry because there were Alliance spies in the area. Bex took the phone to read the text.  
"How does he know that? He doesn't seem like a spy, or is he one?" She asked.

"Think of him as the guy version of Liz- he's super smart but he doesn't have any official spy training. His father is a CEO of some business or something, so he uses his dad's money to build his own equipment. He's quite talented, he got his degree from Caltech, among other places." I told her, putting on my coat and handing hers to her.

Bex grabbed my hand and pulled me back, pointing to two people dressed in black walking diagonally past our direction.  
"Did you know you talk in your sleep?" Bex asked me quickly.  
"What?" I asked, confused. What did me talking in my sleep have to do with anything.

Bex, being Bex, took charge with no hesitation. She tilted my head towards her and kissed me on the lips- not a long kiss, but not a short kiss either. She was definitely not somebody whose moves could be predicted.  
"I'll lead them away." She told me.  
"What? No!" I protested fiercely.

"No time to argue, Sam. You've got to keep your cover up. Help Cammie and Zach." She ordered me.  
"Bex, you don't have to do this, we can-"

"No, Sam. I'll lead them away." She repeated again, sure of herself. She didn't even hesitate before she ran off, risking her life to save Cammie and Zach- two of her closest friends- and to save me.


	17. A Boy From The Past

**Aloha thank you for the reviews :) This chapter is Bex and Sam, but the next one will be full of Zammie.**

_**BEX**_

I didn't even think twice while I ran down the slippery, snowy slopes of the Scottish mountains. I could hear Sam shouting behind me, and my sixth sense told me those two people had seen me.

A quick glance behind me confirmed that- they ignored Sam completely and chased after me. I was the target- which made sense, since I 'kidnapped' Sam. Nobody could easily kidnap Sam though, he was tougher than me.  
I allowed myself a small smile as I thought of the first night in the cabin. I fell asleep and woke up crying, and then Sam came in to comfort me. I didn't realise I had woken him up. I didn't expect him to be kind. I still had to learn to trust him. Around 5:29 in the morning he had fallen asleep, by accident.

His father was a spy, and he had obviously trained Sam- Sam could fight, he was fit, he could shoot, crack codes, all that stuff. But he couldn't protect his mind when he was asleep. Spies do not talk, walk, whisper or mumble in their sleep. Sam did though.  
It was like he was having an argument with his subconcious- he muttered things like, "Get real, Sam, she doesn't like you." and "What if she does like me." and "Do I like her?". Then, the one that made me blush unexpectedly- "So _beautiful_."

He was the most honest I'd ever heard him. I had to be truthful to myself, there was always something off about Sam. And when Cammie told us he was a double agent and he was always on our side I felt... respect towards him.

Being a double agent for so long was hard, even harder if he had to pretend to be the bad guy to his own brother- but he managed to do it. I had to respect that. He was all right in my books- especially that this was the, what, second time he had saved me? Third if you counted the thing that happened in the Alliance headquarters- Stoneacre Manor.

I heard his voice on the walkie-talkie my mum had strapped to her belt- "Leave her there's a bigger security breach." My mum and dad must have been truly brainwashed- they tried to kill me and I couldn't bear hurting them, even my kicks and punches were half hearted.

If it hadn't been for Sam I would probably have been dead by now. Killed by my parents. It was almost funny how ironic it was. Almost. Behind me, the two men- I guessed this by their height and build- started shooting at me. Five bullets hit the snow dangerously close to my feet, making snow fly up all around me and making me lose my footing. I couldn't stop rolling down the slope until I dug my fingers into the grass beneath the snow. I was lucky at least- if I hadn't been moving so quickly those bullets surely would have hit me.

The two masked men caught up with me. I glared fearlessly up at them. One of them hesitated, but the other was about to shoot- well, he was, but Sam crashed into him. The masked man and Sam struggled, but Sam punched him until he fell unconcious. While he did this I swept my feet to the side, making Masked Man number 2 slip over. I climbed on top of him to immobilise him, pushing the gun out of his reach.  
One of my arms was lying limply by my side, and the pain in my shoulder let me know it had fallen out of it's socket again. The guy beneath me started laughing, and I glared at him.

"What the hell are you still doing here, Sam?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the laughing assassin beneath me.  
"You didn't think I would leave you now, did you?" He said simply, picking up the two stray guns and pointing one of them to the unconcious guy, and one towards the guy laughing.  
"And what's so funny?" I sneered.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my little British bombshell?" I held my breath.

I hadn't heard that voice in years. And only one person called me 'British bombshell' but... "Grant?" I said incredulously, pulling off the assassin's mask.

"Surprise." Grant rolled his eyes.  
"You know him? Jeez, Bex, how many other assassins do you know?" Sam asked sarcastically.

"Just him, Zach, and the other Blackthorne boys." I replied grimly.  
"You trust him?" Sam jutted his chin towards Grant.

"I don't know yet." I narrowed my eyes. "Who hired you to kill me?" I asked.  
"Hey, come on, who said I was going to kill you?" Grant protested.  
I sighed irritably. "You and your friend were chasing me with guns. For some reason, I highly doubt that you were just so happy to see me you were running to hug me." I raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, fine. But I didn't know you were the mark. If I did I wouldn't have accepted the job. Some woman named Sara. All she told me was that the mark was a twenty year old woman, 5 foot 11, dark skin, possibly with a twenty two year old man, six foot five. I'm guessing that's hi- bloody hell, he looks like Zach!" Grant exclaimed. "Where is Zach, by the way?"

"Yeah, funny story. Long story though, so maybe some other time..." I said, then I turned to Sam. "What are we going to do now?" I asked.  
"We need to get to Gabriel. And soon- if these two weren't the Alliance people he was talking about. They still want me back and you dead." He told me. I bit my lip.

"Fine. We'll have to leave them here." I said.

"Hey, now. Baxter, you and I go way back. I didn't know it was you I was supposed to kill, and if I did, I wouldn't have done it. Now I have a hunch that you're on a mission and you're hiding from someone, and you're going to need me." Grant argued. "Unless you haven't heard, I'm pretty good at shooting people. Consider me your bodyguard."

I did consider it for a moment- just a moment. "Nope." I said.  
"Nope?" Grant asked.

"Nope." I confirmed. "I'm sorry, but there's no need for you to get tied up in this as well."  
"I'm already tied up in this." Grant pointed out brightly. "So, first thing's first,please get off of me, and then lead the way."  
"We've got to go now, Bex. We can deal with him later." Sam told me nervously glancing around us.

"Fine." I conceded, standing up. "What about him? No chance that's Jonas, is it?"  
"No, Jonas is in Australia or something. Or maybe he said Austria... Anyway, this is Noah- or what's left of him. You had to beat him up that bad?" Grant raised an eyebrow at Sam while he brushed snow off his coat.  
"I'll apologise when I feel sorry." Sam replied coldly.

"Fair enough." Grant shrugged.  
"Sam, do me a favour, put my shoulder back in? It kills and I'm starting to get a migraine." I took one of the guns from Sam so he could get a grip on my arm. The pain went away instantly when my shoulder popped back in place, though my arm felt sore and uncomfortable. "Thank you."  
"No problem. Let's go." He said.  
"What are we going to do about Noah?" I asked Grant.  
"I'll handle this." He said expertly, grabbing a handful of snow and leaning over the unconcious and bloody Noah.  
"Noah, time to wake up!" Grant said in a sing songy voice. He lightly slapped Noah's cheeks.

"Any way to speed this up, please?" I asked impatiently, glancing around for any sign of movement.  
"That's what this is for." Grant held up the snow in his hand. He stood up and threw the snow at Noah's face as hard as he could. Noah stirred, but didn't wake up. "Gun, please?"  
"Jesus, no need to shoot him." I held the gun away from him.

"Please." Grant rolled his eyes, his hand still reaching for the gun. "I'm not gonna shoot him, I'm going to scare him. Get my meaning?" I did.  
"Fine. Just be quick." I gave Grant the gun. He didn't even have to aim or hold the gun with two hands- he shot the ground next to Noah almost so casually like he did this kind of thing everyday- which, I guess he did.

Blackthorne was a school for assassins. If the way the students acted and the way the school looked wasn't hint enough, Cammie having nightmares about Blackthorne assassins was. Thankfully, three shots later Noah gasped and sat straight back up.

Once he saw me he fumbled around for his gun. "Looking for this?" Grant asked.

"The hell you doing, man?" Noah asked accusingly, moving to get up. Sam pointed his gun at him and tutted. Noah stayed down but kept glaring at Grant. "She's the mark, isn't she? Shoot her!"

"I'm not going to be shooting anyone, Noah." Grant handed the gun back to me. "She's... she's an old friend. Bex Baxter?"  
Noah whistled. His stance turned less aggressive and less agitated. He didn't seem to be in a rush to get away anymore. "The Bex Baxter?"  
"One and only." I narrowed my eyes. "How do you know about me?"

"Please, grant never shuts up about you." Noah snorted. I raised an eyebrow and looked towards Grant, who rolled his eyes.  
"Smooth, man, real smooth." Grant said sarcastically.

"Fine. I won't shoot you. What about him?" Noah asked, standing up. Sam had a weird look on his face.  
"He's fine too, I think." Grant told Noah.  
"Gee, thanks. Well, not that all this isn't very interesting, but we need to move before someone really _does_ shoot us." Sam gestured for everybody to move. Sam and I started moving- we were the targets after all- and after a few second's hesitation Grant and Noah started following.  
The address where Gabe told us to go was twenty minutes away- unfortunately for me. Twenty minutes was a long time to think about everything. Were Zach and Cammie all right? What were Liz and Macey doing right now? God, Bex, stop avoiding what you really want to think about:

What do I do about Sam? I mean, he was Zach's brother. And he was Sam. I mean, he's a spy, which is great, and he's obviously good looking. And I think he likes me... do I like him? I mean, I kissed him and all but now Grant comes along. Just because I kissed him doesn't mean I'm tied down to him. Dammit, Baxter, this is what you get when you do things without thinking about what you're doing!  
At least we were finally at the address Gabriel gave us. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was not a broken down little shack that looked as if it could could collapse if a light breeze hit it.

Sam seemed to know what to do though- he led us into the shack and to the back which was connected to a train tunnel inside the mountain. Inside was a five-carriage train. At my curious look, Sam shrugged and said, "Like I said- really rich, really clever."  
"I see." I said, even though I didn't really see at all. There was no brand on the train, it looked almost homemade- but it couldn't have been, because it was working, because it was humming and rumbling with power.

"Gabe! We're here!" Sam called, stepping inside the train. He froze when he saw the inside- the narrow hallway running down the left side of the train- covered in broken things, like they had been thrown. "Gabe?" Sam's voice rose with panic. Behind me Grant cussed under his breath.  
Sam opened a door to one of the sleeping compartments. One of the panelled walls had three gun holes in them. A little bit a long, a bloody knife had been stabbed into the wall.

Droplets of blood covered the whole compartment... but Gabriel was nowhere to be seen.

**And what can I say? You guys were asking about Grant ;)**


	18. Memoria Tenere

**Sorry I haven't uploaded in a while :/ **

**THIS IS IMPORTANT **

**Some of you have been saying you want Bex and Sam, some say Bex and Grant. I'm going to let you choose. There's a poll on my account page and you can ONLY VOTE ONCE but please vote for your favorite couple. Have fun!**

* * *

The door inched open so slow it was torturous. I grabbed Zach's hand before I realised what I was doing. I held my breath.

Chris regarded me and Zach with a curious look when he opened the door.  
"We- we, uh, ran out of absinthe." Zach made up as an excuse, grabbing the closest bottle to him and holding it up as an example.  
"Yeah, I'm sure that happened. First of all, that's not absinthe, that's ginger beer, and second of all, do you want to tell me why a downright scary woman who I swear had a knife in her boot just walked in and interrogated me on whether I've seen two young adults, with a description that sounded like you two?" Chris asked.

"You didn't tell her we were here, did you?" I demanded.  
"No, she seemed... dodgy." Chris explained. "Look, I don't know what's going on, and I'm not too sure I want to know, but if you're criminals, could you just tell me?"  
"No, don't worry, we're not criminals." Zach assured Chris, wrapping an arm protectively around my waist. I automatically took his hand and twined our fingers together.

Chris looked at the way we were stood together and raised an eyebrow. "Something going on between you two?" He asked. After a moment's pause, he held up a hand and said, "Nevermind. I shouldn't be sticking my nose in someone else's business."  
"Thank you." Zach said. He took a deep breath and out of the corner of my eye I saw him glance at me. "Look, Chris, I know we've only been here for what, two days, but I think we need to leave." Zach glanced at me again.  
I nodded in agreement. "Zach's right. We should leave."

"What? No, look, is something wrong? 'Cause I have a friend who knows a guy who's a policeman, and i could call in a favour, have you guys talk to somebody if you feel unsafe." Chris looked at us sympathetically. "And I thought your name was Zane?"  
"It is- I mean, it was. Well, I thought it was but- of never mind, but if anyone asks for us, just call us Zane and Carrie, OK?"  
"And Zac-Zane," I corrected myself for Chris- "-Zane is right. We should go. Thank you for your help, Chris, but we should go."  
"Go where?" Chris protested.

"I don't think even we know." Zach gave me the ghost of a half-smile. "We'll just have to stick together." I squeezed his hand encouragingly. We were going to stick together- it sounded fantastic, even if we were sticking together and running away from a potentially dangerous person at the same time.

Chris looked at us glumly. "There's nothing I can do to convince you to stay, is there?"  
"No." I said softly.  
"Fine. Well, your shift's over, let me at least pay you your wage." Chris started walking to the bar, where the money was kept in a safe below the bar table. Chris handed us £75 each, even though me and Zach protested. "I insist." Said Chris firmly.  
Zach thanked him for both of us, then pulled on my hand to the upstairs inn rooms. What little belongings we had there were packed into plastic bags. "So this is it." I said, nervous and excited at the same time.  
"Yep. This is it." Zach repeated.

"Where are we going to go now?" I wondered aloud.  
"Anywhere is better than here. I hate being so close to that- that place where they kept us." I could hear the anger in Zach's voice.  
"You're right." I tied a double knot on the bag and put it onto the bed, stopping suddenly when I noticed my hand. "Where's my ring?" I muttered to myself. I couldn't believe I didn't notice it before, but now that I did my hand felt naked without it.  
"What did you say?" Zach asked.

"My ring." I said louder. "I was wearing it last night, and now I can't find it."  
"Did you take it off in the bathroom this morning when you took a shower?" Zach suggested.  
"I'll check-oww!" I exclaimed as I stubbed my toe on the leg of the bed.

"Are you okay? There you go," Zach laughed as he picked me up and held me in his arms. I had a weird déja vu as he carried me into the white tiled bathroom and picked my ring up off the side. He took me back into the room and let me down gently onto the bed.  
I got up onto my knees so I was eye level with him. He had such heartbreakingly beautiful green eyes. "Why do you care about it so much?" Zach asked me softly.

"It meant a lot to me one day. It means something to me now." I explained. This ring held a huge part of my life, and I wanted to remember it.  
"It means something to me too." Zach smiled at me. "I still want you to have it. Because I know we're going to get our memories back, and when we do I'm going to love you more than ever, and I will never ever let you go again."  
I could feel the blush creeping into my cheeks. "Sounds good." I said, not embarrassed when my voice broke a little.  
"Cammie, would you like to be my fiancée again?" Zach asked.

"I would love to." I nodded shyly, smiling when Zach slipped the ring onto my finger. I blushed even more when Zach kissed me- without hesitation- on the lips.  
My heart dropped when our blissful moment of happiness was cut horribly short by a crashing downstairs. Zach and I jumped apart and looked warily at the door. We could hear Chris yelling downstairs, followed by another crash, then the sharp clicking of heels stomping up stairs.  
"The window." Me and Zach said simultaneously. We were on the second floor of the building but that didn't matter much when adrelanine and the thought of death were rushing through you.

Luckily for us, there were a couple of dumpsters outside our window, in the alleyway at the back of the bar. "On three." Zach said, pulling me to the ledge. "One... two... three!" I followed Zach and jumped without a second thought. My body twisted in the air automatically so I landed with my legs at the right angle and my knees bent so that the impact didn't hurt. Zach did the same and hopped off the dumpster, then helped me off.

"Told you!" A girl's voice said triumphantly. I froze when I saw a small pixie framed girl with a cap of blonde hair standing in the alleyway, surrounded by at least five other people, including a tall and freakishly muscly guy who look like a marine.  
The girl herself didn't look like she was capable of hurting anything bigger than a ladybug, but the gun tucked delicately into the waistband of her jeans. A model-like girl with dark hair handed her a thick wad of money with an irritable sigh, but her actions were casual. "How did you know?" She asked.

"Please, Macey, it's so Blackthorne- No, it's so Zach to escape from a window. And Cammie, puh-lease, escaping is her forte." The girl scoffed.  
How did they know our names. Also- 'escaping is her forte'? I didn't like the sound of the way she said that. "Who the hell are you?" I asked warily, edging away.

"Ha!" The dark haired girl- Macey- exclaimed. The small girl handed her her money back. Zach raised an eyebrow.  
"We should explain. I'm Liz, and this is Macey, and, well, we're your friends." The small girl, Liz, explained apologetically. With her innocent girl looks and soft Southern accent she sounded so sincere and believable, but I didn't know who to trust these days. "And you need to come with us. I mean literally, right this second."

"No, no way." I shook my head and backed away. Liz's big blue eyes widened even further. Macey took in a deep breath and all the armoured people around her tensed up and reached for their guns in scary synchronisation.  
Were they threatening to shoot us if we didn't come with them? Liz put up a cautioning hand, but tilted her head to the muscly man next to her.

"Alistair, where's the back-ups?" She asked softly, tension creeping into her voice.  
"I wouldn't bother. They're dead, you're outnumbered and we've caught you red-handed." Dread filled my stomach when I heard Sara's voice. Me and Zach instantly edged towards Liz and Macey, in the middle of No Man's Land.  
"Zach, Cammie. Come here now." Liz said tersely. Macey's eyes were unblinking as she watched over where Sara and her group of at least a dozen were stood.

"Move one inch and I'll shoot." Sara warned, clicking the safety off her gun. She cocked her head at Liz. "Didn't you get my message?"  
Liz regarded her coolly. "Oh I got it all right. I just don't listen to terrorists." She replied coldly.  
"Oh honey, we're not terrorists. We're simply paving the way into the new world. And your precious Zach and Cammie are in the way." Sara said it almost pityingly, like Liz was a silly little girl.

"You harm any one of them and you'll regret it." The guy named Alistair told Sara. His voice was deep and calm, but the threat was very severe.  
Sara paused for a moment. "Well, screw you." She said, and grabbed Zach. A redheaded woman from Liz's crowd leaped forward and pulled me towards her, but I screamed and tried to get away to reach for Zach. In the chaos, hundreds of bullets were shot but thankfully none of them hit me. Liz handed the redhead a syringe full of cloudy white liquid, and a second later the syringe was plunged into my neck. My body went limp with paralysis and I couldn't even scream as Sara dragged Zach away with a triumphant smirk. Macey was yelling something at the redheaded woman who held me, and a second later I figured out she was saying "Get her out!" over and over again.

I was dragged into another dark, damp street and my paralysis wore off only to be replaced by neausea. I collapsed onto the floor and vomited. My head hurt a lot. When the neausea faded I felt shaky and I couldn't stand.

"Come on. We need to go." The redhead pulled me up, and my head rushed, overwhelming me with dizziness. I passed out in the stranger's arms.

I woke up three hours later,if my internal clock was right. My headache was fading away. And I remembered everything. Liz must have found an antidote to reverse the effects of the serum Sara gave me.

I opened my eyes. I was in a plane, with my head leaning against the plastic of the plane. I swallowed and my ears popped. "Cammie? Are you awake?" Liz moved to the seat in front of me.  
"Yeah. Thanks. Where are we headed?" I asked.

"America. Gallagher, to be specific." Liz told me, handing me a bottle of water and a steaming hot pizza slice. I was hungry, but I pushed the food away.  
"What the hell? Why? We need to go back and get Zach!" I argued.  
Liz bit her lip. Never a good sign. "That's the thing, Cammie. We can't."

**Hope you enjoyed it, and please remember to vote. Ah! You were right, I copy and paste the story off a word document I must have pasted it twice. Sorry!**


	19. Going Back to High School

**Hey guys so spoiler alert, the scores for your fave couple are tied at the moment, and I can't really do anything with that at the moment so please, if you haven't voted please do ! Thank you :)**

"What do you mean we can't?" I stared at Liz, dumbfounded. "I'm not asking for much, just a couple of spies. It's not like I'm asking the whole spy community to drop their cases just to get Zach out of there, just five people, maybe six."  
Liz took a deep breath. "A lot can happen in two days, Cammie."  
"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, long story short, there is no more spy community." Liz started fidgeting in her seat and wringing her hands. "The Alliance must be huge, like, worldwide, because everywhere even the best spies are going MIA, and it's causing worldwide chaos. I mean, thugs and gangs and criminals are breaking out of jail and terrorists are attacking and nobody is afraid of the law anymore cause we have no spies to track them down and put them in jail, and even if we did the FBI and police are getting stretched pretty thin."

"Oh my God." I breathed. And all this happened in two days? Sara was wasting no time getting used to her newfound power. "How big is the Alliance? Actually, what even is the Alliance and what are they doing?"  
"Don't you remember?" Liz frowned. "Is the antidote not working."

"It's working, but it's still hazy. It's like... to remember something, I have to know what to remember and look for it in my mind, you know? It's tricky." I explained.

"Right. Well, the Alliance is basically a group of anti-spies. Some are those who have a grudge against spies, some are actual spies or ex-spies, and some are normal civillians who think that Sara's group is the right side to be on- basically, anyone she can get her hands on. The Alliance is trying to get rid of spies all around the world or at least diminish their numbers until they are so small and insignificant they no longer hold any power, so they can't do anything to stop Sara or the Alliance. And we don't know for sure but we think they're trying to take over the spy communty's hold over the world, so they can control how everything is going to be run from now on." Liz explained rapidly.  
"O-kay..." I said slowly. "But why is Sara doing this all of a sudden?"

"Well, our theory so far is- Cammie, look, you need to know this wasn't your fault, it wasn't because of any of us, but Sara was happy where she was in the Circle of Cavan because she thought she was soon going to get onto Stephen's good side, providing her with more power. When she tortured you and Zach that night at the Circle party and Stephen walked in on her, he lost all trust in her and there was no way she could ever crawl her way back up the Circle hierarchy, so she decided to get rid of the Circle and anyone else who could take her down. It's part of her revenge."

"Why are our lives so screwed up?" I couldn't stop myself from saying that. But I already knew the answer- because we were spies. Liz looked at me sympathetically. "Where's Bex and Macey?" I asked, changing the subject.  
"Bex, I hope, is on a train to Virginia, and Macey is taking a later flight." Liz sat back in her seat, curling up defencively in a small ball. It was a touchy subject- despite out cool exterior inside we were always worried about where our friends were and what they were doing. Sam was right, having emotional ties was a bad thing.

"Why?" I pressed. It was painful, but I was out of the loop and needed to know.  
"Since Sara is currently in the Alliance headquarters in England, Macey stayed behind to see if her persuasion skills would work and possibly get some people back." Like my sister. Liz didn't say the words out loud but they were obviously there. And even though I loved Zach, Liz's sister was still technically a civillian, and she was the most important to get out.  
"And why is Bex on a train and not a plane?" Trains weren't Bex's style.

"Well Bex pretended to kidnap Sam and take him hostage, so they hid out in a safehouse in Scotaland, and then that safehouse got blown up, and somewhere along the way one of Sam's old friends showed up and offered to take them to another safe location on his train, and he texted Sam the location but we managed to find and trace the call to where the train was, and we got Sam's friend and at the same time the Alliance showed up, and you know, the usual happened, but we managed to get him out." Liz told me. "Anyway, this guy- Gabriel- is really rich and quite smart, so he built a beacon on his train so he could track it, so we can track the train but we can't get a signal through to Bex and Sam, considering they're in a reinforced titanium subway a couple hundred miles under the ocean."  
I wrinkled my nose. "Jeez, is that safe?"

"Probably not." Liz shrugged.  
"Hey, it is perfectly safe, thank you very much." A male voice called from the back of the plane. I turned around and peeked through the gap. A tall, lanky boy with dark wavy hair spectacles was half looking for food in a minifridge at the back.  
"Is that him?!" I mouthed. Liz nodded, her mouth in a tight line.

"He is soo annoying!" She mouthed back. I raised an eyebrow. "He keeps trying to correct my theoretical physics." She looked glum. I bit on my tongue to stop myself from laughing.  
"That might be because your equations are wrong." Gabriel stated, coming towards where we were sat. "I can lip read, you know."  
"First of all- my equations are not wrong! Second of all, you had no right going through my notebooks and third of all- why are you so annoying?!" Liz sneered.  
Gabriel wasn't fazed. "First of all, they were wrong. Second of all, I had to find out who you people were and third of all, I'm annoying because I don't know who the hell you are and I don't trust you." Gabriel mimicked Liz.

"Play nice, kiddies. I'll be right back." I rolled my eyes and left Liz and Gabriel who were now bickering to go to the small claustrophobic toilet. I had dark shadows under my eyes and my hair looked like I had been dragged backward through a bush. I impatiently brushed the tangles out with my fingers, then splashed water onto my faced and rinsed out the coppery taste in my mouth with ice cold water.  
I hated waking up on planes. It made me feel displaced. And it also gave me a pounding headache. I opened the mirror to look in the hidden cabinet behind it, looking for aspirin. I found a pack with only two left and swallowed them both without water, wincing at the bitter taste. These aspirins worked quickly, and my headache vanished within minutes.

Thankfully when I got back outside Liz and Gabriel stopped fighting- in fact, stopped speaking alltogether. Maybe one aspirin would have been enough... it was making me feel really drowsy. Liz glanced up to see me swaying as I walked towards a seat.  
"Cams, are you okay?" Liz raised an eyebrow. "You look kind of... wobbly." I felt kind of wobbly.

"I guess I'm just drowsy. I took some aspirin to stop my headache." I gripped the back of a seat to stop myself from falling over. My legs felt as if they had pins and needles.  
"Oh god you didn't take those little white pills, did you?" Liz stood up to help me. Even Gabriel looked worried. I nodded, which made me even more dizzy. "Cammie, that was aspirin mixed with a knockout drug."  
"Well... that's just... great." I uttered just before I collapsed into the seat, unconscious.

* * *

BEX  
"Sam, he's going to be fine." I said for the 47th time while I cranked up the heat for the 16th time- and yes, I was counting. It was so cold, and no matter how many times I raised the temperature, the cold seemed to seep it. Well, were were a couple hundred miles underwater in a train tunnel apparantly Gabriel built, though I don't know how.  
I didn't know what was worse- the cold or the thought that any moment the tunnel might cave in to the immense pressure of the water, and we'd all either drown or get crushed to death.

Sam didn't say anything, but nodded noncommittally Actually, with Sam's depressingly serious mood, Noah's edginess and Grant's constant shuffling, the thought of getting crushed to death seemed almost cheerful.  
I sighed and sat back down in on the cushioned bench/bed in the sleeping compartment we were hanging out in- if staring awkwardly into space and feeling intrusive could be called hanging out.

"So... anyone want to tell us what's happening?" Grant asked. "And most importantly, because it's been bugging me, why does he look like Zach?"

I sighed and looked at Sam- who was looking intensely at the floor as if it were the most interesting thing in the world- and then began to explain everything to Grant and Noah. "He doesn't look like Zach- it's more like, Zach looks like him, because," It was surprisingly difficult to explain all of this, "Well, Sam is Zach's older brother."

Noah froze and Grant stared at me dumfoundedly. "You're kidding me." He gaped at Sam, who was still not looking at anybody. If he was felt so guilty about Gabe being taken, he must be feeling ten times worse about Zach. I suddenly felt very sorry for him. "Unbelievable. I've known Zach for like, three years and not once did he mention he had a brother."  
"Because he never knew." Sam told him, putting some finality to that conversation. This only made Grant more confused, but I waved a hand dismissivly. It was too long to explain. I'll tell him when I had a few days to spare.

"Where are we going, by the way?" Noah joined in.  
"I put the train on auto-conductor, and we're going to Roseville." Sam told him.  
"Why?" Asked Noah.

"Because that was the plan. If anything went wrong we'd rendezvous back at Gallagher, where we'd be safe." I explained.  
"Okay, I understand why he's depressed, but why are you depressed?" Grant asked me.  
The reason was simple enough. "Because things are going very wrong, and there's nothing we can do about it."


	20. Drop In, Turn On, Drop Dead

**Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I've been swamped with tests :(**

"Anyone know how to get in?" I asked casually, looking behind me at my friends.

Macey looked up to study the innocent looking gate that surrounded Gallagher. It looked deceptively normal, but if you listened closely enough you could hear the low hum of electricity running through the metal bars.

Liz didn't say anything, but frowned at the Gallagher mansion. "Is it just me, or... doesn't Gallagher look like, well, like nobody's home?"  
I looked closer at the familliar old school. She was right- there was no light in the windows, no distant chatter of students. It looked completely silent. "Should we be worried?" Macey wondered.

"I don't know. I thought when we came here your mom or someone would see us on the security cameras and let us in, but apparantly nobody's here." Liz looked at me. "Do you know what we should do?"

"Maybe we should try to break in." Macey said thoughtfully.

"That's what I was thinking. Or at least trigger the alarm so they'll know we're here." I glanced warily at the electrified gate- even if we could get up the gate who knew what was lying in wait in the perfectly manicured lawns that stood between us and Gallagher? I, for one, wasn't looking forward to finding out. Triggering the alarm would be safer- maybe if we threw a stick inside?

I suggested the stick idea to my friends, who looked dubious. "Somehow I don't think that what looks like the best security system in America- heck, the world- would be tricked by a stick." Liz reasoned.

"I think we should just man up and take what's coming to us." Macey stuck her chin out in a detirmined way.  
"That's a very Bex-ish thing to do." I remarked.

"Well, Preston's stuck in a safe house in Hungary or something so the sooner we get into Gallagher the sooner I can protect Preston by being near him." Macey said stiffly. I almost thought I could see her eyes watering up with emotion, but Macey McHenry doesn't cry. Still, thinking of her and Preston made me think of me... and Zach.

"Let's go then." I stepped up to the metal bars of the gate. I couldn't think about Zach- not now or I would go crazy. Macey seemed surprised but pleased at my enthusiasm.

"Great!" She cheered. "Liz, if you can figure out another way to get us in, feel free to tell us. But until then..."  
"Onwards and upwards." I smiled weakly at my best friend. Macey took a deep breath and gripped one of the bars. Half a second later she pulled back, breath hissing in in pain.

"Hot damn that hurts!" Macey shook her hand as if she was trying to shake the electricity off of her.  
"That's because the soles of your shoes are silver, and that's conducting the electricity through your body and into the ground." Liz said matter-of-factly. "Can I just add, don't you think that you could have worn flats instead of heels?"  
"Hey, these are only three inches! Three inches!" Macey repeated for emphasis. "Nuns wear bigger heels."

"Whatever." Liz rolled her eyes. "My point is, you need to climb up using something that conducts and doesn't insulate. Like a thick wooly material."  
Without further question Macey took off her cashmere sweater, put her hands into the sleeves so they covered the skin like gloves, kicked off her heels and started climbing over the gate. She dropped down onto the grass on the other side and threw her sweater over for me to use. I mimicked her exact moves, sticking my feet in the slightly too-small gaps of the gate to substitute for not having footholds. It was surprisingly easy getting onto the other side.

"Oh, damn." Macey looked down mournfully at her legs. "I ripped a hole in my tights!"  
"Macey! Prioritize!" I took her shoulders and turned her around so she was facing out old school. I could feel Macey's shoulders tightening in detirmination under my palm.

"One step at a time." She took my hand and squeezed it reassuringly. I could feel Liz's eyes boring into my back.  
"You guys, maybe we should try the lake?" She suggested worriedly.

"To get to the lake we need access codes, codes we don't have. Relax, Liz. We got this." I closed my eyes, trying to convince myself everything was going to be alright. In impromptu synchronisation, me and Macey took a step forward. I held my breath. We took another step. And another. And another.

"Why is nothing happening?" I squinted through my closed eyes to see Macey grimacing with the expectation of pain.  
"I don't know. Liz why is nothing happen-oh!" Macey broke off, doubling over in pain. It took me a second to register that macey was in pain, another second to wonder why wasn't I feeling any pain, and just half a second before I felt it too.

It was torturous. A distant part of my mind that was having an out-of-body experience wondered how paranoid my mother must be to get security this uptight. But then the pain was too real and it pulled me unwillingly back into my body, where the pain was too intense to stand.  
Noxious gas that made me gag, and made my eyes water was sprayed at us. A low resonating hum was directed at us in waves that felt like they were making my brain implode, piercing my skull with a thousand shards of glass. The tracking device that all agents- good or bad- had implanted at the base of our neck, where the spine began, started doing things it wasn't supposed to do. It was somehow malfunctioning, making my muscles spasm in pain. I collapsed on the floor, paralysed.

Somewhere in the distance I could hear Liz screaming our names. Faintly, in the back of my mind I could hear someone screaming- I think it was me. In the blurry distance I could see someone in black boots running towards me... the closer they came the more the pain went away. Do angels wear black combat boots? I had never really believed in God- when my father died I sort of lost faith, but for all I knew I could be dying. It certainly felt like it.

_Cammie_. The voice was low and distorted, but I recognised who said it. Abby. She always said it _Cam_mie, with emphasis on the_ Cam_- like she was always going to call me Cam, but remembered I preferred Cammie, so she had to remember to add the _mie_.  
Another two figures came running towards me and Macey. The sound went back to normal as the pain faded away. Everything was still too loud in my head. Abby picked me up off the floor with amazing strength; someone else let Liz in and a third person picked Macey's limp body off the ground.

"Everyone get back inside, quick!" Abby's commanding voice ordered everybody. She ran with me not into Gallagher but around the side, into a shed and under ground. "Ab-bee." I choked.  
"Yeah I'm here, squirt." Abby waited while the lift carried us down. When the doors opened she carried me quickly down the dark, damp underground tunnel.

"Z...ach." I said shakily.  
"I know, kiddo. I know." She didn't say anything to comfort me. Emotions weren't Abby's thing- but I could see her bite her lip.  
"I c-an...walk... y-you know." I wiggled my toes in my shoes. It made pain shoot up and down my calves, but I didn't mind. I didn't like being so limp and helpless.

"Does it look like I care? I don't care." Abby shook her head at me. If my head wasn't spinning so much already, I would have rolled my eyes. Abby may be sarcastic and distant, but she still cared a lot about me and my mother. "A-ha." Abby murmured to herself as we reached a set of wooden doors that were slightly open. She kicked the doors away, to reveal a hall full of students who were talking quietly. You could hear the nervous edginess in their voices from afar. Abby's boots clicked as she stepped down stone stairs. All the students in the room were silent.  
"Abby?" Mr Solomon's voice rang out across the hall, full of concern.

"They'll live. At least we know the new security system works." Abby assured him grimly, laying me down on a sofa.  
I bit my lip and winced against the pain that still remained in my muscles. "If by security system you mean cruel and unusual instrument of torture, then yeah, it works." I said sarcastically. "Where's mom? Whatever you do don't let her see me like this!" I gripped Abby's arm. My mother would freak out.

"Don't worry your mother has just been transporting some first years to a safer place." Mr Solomon said quietly, so nobody else could hear, but by the look on the students eyes told me they already knew what was going on.  
"There's no place safer than Gallagher, though." I murmured.

"Well Sara and her motley crew are trying to prove us wrong, and they're kind of managing to do that quite well." Mr Solomon whispered.  
I grasped the material of the sofa and pulled myself up. "So what can we do about it?" I asked.  
"There's nothing we can do." Macey filled in, limping over to sit on the edge of the sofa. "Like Liz said."  
"Well we can't just do nothing!" I spoke louder. "That psychopath has Zach and I'm not going to let her get away with it!" The students flashed me worried looks. From the murmurs in the crowd I could hear the words _chameleon_,_ headmistress's daughter_,_ kidnapped_, and the worst of all, a phrase that stood out- _poor her_.

"Sometimes we have to make sacrifices we don't want to make, Cammie. You know that." Abby refused to look me in the eye.  
"He's a sacrifice I'm not willing to make!" I stood up firmly and forced Abby to look at me.  
"Why do you care about him so much? You weren't this upset when you lost Josh!" Abby started talking loudly, almost yelling.  
"This is different! For God's sake Abby, you don't even know half the story!"  
"So tell me!"

"Zach and I got engaged in Italy!" I burst out. Abby's eyes opened in shock. "And I know you wouldn't know what it's like to fight for someone you love that's not family but- Oh. My. God. Office. Now." I ordered her. Abby did as I asked. I couldn't believe I didn't see it before, especially when Abby was carrying me.

I closed the door behind me. "You and Solomon are engaged aren't you?" I accused.

Abby's eyes didn't even flickered. "Nope. No ring, see?" Abby raised her left hand, and it was true- there was no ring. Unfortunately for Abby, Joe Solomon had trained me and my friends to notice the tiniest details.  
"There's a small smudge of chalk on your right cuff- you're right handed and the only possible interaction with chalk you could have had in Gallagher was writing down things on a chalkboard in lessons."

"Very good, but why does that make you think-"

"I wasn't done." I snapped, narrowing my eyes. "Your skin is at least five shades darker than it was when I last saw you, which was let's say, seven months ago? I graduated in late June, early July which could explain the suntan except the remaining months are August, September, October, November, December and January, most of which are cold, unsunny months. Even if you were out in the sun every day and not in a classroom, it still wouldn't have made your skin so dark, which means you travelled somewhere foreign."

"That still doesn't explai-"  
"Let me finish, Abby. You were talking to my mother a week before my graduation about going to a mission in Venezuela, which would explain the suntan, but if you notice there's a band of skin on your finger a few shades lighter than the rest of your skin. You were acting weird in my last few months at Gallagher, and I thought it was because you were edgy about me due to what had happened but now I realise that wasn't it. You were weird because you had just gotten engaged to Joe. A few months later you went to Venezuela, where you had recieved some emails from the Venezuela hideout, reporting strange activity. You went to check it out, wearing your ring, but once you realised there was a new threat on the block you knew- much like Zach's brother, Sam- the dangers of showing emotional ties to other agents, so you took your ring off but you didn't stay in Venezuela long enough for the pale skin on your finger to darken enough so it wouldn't be obvious. If that wasn't enough proof, you still wear the ring on a chain, underneath your shirt." I cocked my head to the side, studying the round outline of the ring underneath Abby's black shirt. "How well did I do?"

Abby remained silent. "You're not even going to try and deny it?"  
"Would it work?" Abby gave me a small smile.

"Not really." I smirked. "Congratulations." I went over to hug her.  
"You too, kiddo." Abby whispered into my ear. Somebody crashed into the room, and Abby and I sprung apart. I recognised the person instantly- tall, wearing a green army jacket, dark skin, deep voice- Alistair, my bodyguard from last year.  
"Cammie, Abby. Come quickly. We're recieving a transmission from the Alliance."

"What?" Abby breathed, rushing back into the hall. "Put it on the big screen." Instantly, a projector sprang to life and started playing a transmission. I held my breath.

When Sara's face showed up on the screen, I was filled with hate for her. She couldn't have been older than 23, yet she was already trying to take over and ruin thousands of people's lives.

"Hello, Cammie. I know you're there. Could I at least see you?" Sara peered into the camera.  
"Do it." I told the man operating the computer. I could see myself in the top left hand corner, as a small video streamed image.  
"Ah, hello." Sara smiled pleasantly.

"What do you want?" I glowered at her.  
"Oh, well, I just knew that while you were at your precious school you wouldn't be able to resist trying to come up with a plan to try and stop me." Sara kept her tone light.

"So?"  
"Well I'm here to tell you to stop." She said simply.  
"You have many things that don't belong to you, Sara. I want them back." My voice was icy.

"Well they don't want you back." Sara laughed. "Exhibit A- Elena, sweetie, who are you?" Sara moved the camera so I could see Lenny, Stephen's daughter.  
"I'm your niece." Lenny replied, looking up at Sara adoringly with big blue eyes. Lenny was surrounded by mountains of dollies, cuddly toys and playhouses.  
"Do you love me?" Sara asked. "Would you ever want to leave me?"  
"I love you loads and loads and loads auntie Sara." Lenny's face was crumpled up in confusion. "I don't have to leave, do I?"  
"No sweetie. Not now, and not ever." Sara straightened the camera back up, and started walking to a different room, but the camera was still pointed at her.

"You brainwashed a little girl?" I clenched my fists. "Stephen and Sophia are going to kill you."  
"Oh, I doubt they would risk hurting their precious little Elena." Sara shrugged. "Ah, and here's exhibit B. Hey, honey." Sara put the camera down and I stiffened.

"Hey, sweetie."

"Random question, how much do you love me?" Sara asked sweetly.

"Turn it off." Abby told the man at the computer.

"Why would you even ask that? You know how much I love you."

"I said turn it off, Randall!" Abby snapped. Randall- the technician- was banging at the computer keys.

"It's not responding!" Randall panicked, typing faster.

"And you would never leave me?" Sara asked.

"Not for anything or anyone."

"Sara, I swear you better run, and you had better hide. Cause if I ever find you you are going to wish you were never born." My voice was venomous.

"Now, now, Cammie. I'm simply celebrating my love with my fiancé. It's going to be a June wedding." Sara smiled and turned back to look at her prisoner.

"Drop. Dead." I hissed at Sara.

That was when Abby picked up the laptop and threw it onto the floor. The picture on the big screen fizzed out.

But the picture of Zach and Sara kissing was burned into my memory.


	21. Gallagher's Army

**I'm not going to say any more but the poll to see who you guys want Bex to get together with just took an interesting turn ^.^**

My hands hurt. I looked down to see that I had dug my nails into my palms so hard I made myself bleed, without even realizing. I unclenched my hands painfully, trying to stop them trembling with anger.

"Cammie." Abby said softly.

"Don't. Just don't." It scared me how deadly calm my voice was. It reminded me of when my grandmother got angry at me when I was little. She wouldn't shout at me but I could tell she was furious, and she went into a state of scary-calm, like the calm before the storm. She seemed fine but I could feel the storm bubbling underneath her skin.

I felt scary-calm now, and it was like I was so full of emotion I couldn't let any of it out.

"Call Stephen, Sophia, Katherine, anyone you want. Get them here as soon as possible." My voice didn't even quiver. I looked at the broken computer on the floor, fizzing and crackling. That would be what Sara looked like when I was done with her. Broken beyond repair.

"Cammie, you have a weird look on your face. Maybe you should lie down." Liz said softly, putting her hand on my shoulder.

"I don't feel tired." I told her. "Just call them."

Liz hovered by my shoulder, but walked away after a moment, albeit reluctantly. "Cammie-" Macey started.

"Would everybody just stop "Cammie"-ing me?" I snapped.

"We're just worried about you." Macey's blue eyes looked at me sympathetically. "This is a lot to deal with, and you're-"

"And I'm what?" I stuck my chin out, challenging her to continue.  
"We're just worried about you." Macey repeated. "Dealing with all of this- you can't be thinking clearly."

"Oh, I'm thinking clearly all right. I'm going to get everyone together. We're going to make a plan. We're going to take down the Alliance, and I'm going to take down Sara. And for all I care, she can burn in hell."

I pretended not to see Macey's worried looks. I pretended that I couldn't feel every single student and teacher in the room staring at me. I pretended I was thinking clearly, not letting my emotions get in the way, even though I knew I wasn't.

I sat down on one of the sofas, and closed my eyes. _No thoughts. No thoughts. Just total darkness. _

"Cammie. Wake up." Somebody shook my shoulder to wake me up.

"Zach?" I asked aloud, actually hopeful for a moment.

"Sorry, kiddo. Just me." Mr Solomon handed me a mug of tea. My heart fell. When I heard his voice, my mind immediately recognised it as _male_ and _familiar._ I had immediately thought of Zach.

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked, taking a tentative sip of the tea. It burned my tongue.

"Just a few hours. We didn't want to wake you. Stephen and Sophia have flown over, and they'll be arriving in a few minutes." Mr Solomon helped me up.

"Where did everybody go?" I wondered aloud.

"This place isn't part of the Gallagher school. It's for emergency use only, and it has a power generator that only provides electricity for three days." Joe explained.

"Why not take the students to the sublevels?" I suggested.

"We thought about it, but it's too dangerous. Imagine a group of sixty freshmen, sophomores and juniors in sublevel 6." Joe raised his eyebrow pointedly.

"Fair point." I shrugged.

Mr Solomon typed out a long intricate code into a keypad. Sixteen beeps later, something buzzed and Mr Solomon opened the door. As soon as I stepped inside, I breathed in the familiar smell of Gallagher- cold stone, old oil paintings, faint perfume and the light aroma of Chef's vanilla meringues.

"It's good to be home." I murmured. I followed the scent of roast beef and the sound of light chatter to the dining room, where the students were eating as far away from the tables pushed to the back of the room as possible- the tables where Stephen and Sophia were sat.

All the students needed to know was that Stephen was a Cavan, and because of the incident with Gilly and Ioseph, Stephen was the enemy. Well, to be fair, his ancestor did attempt to kill the president of the United States.

Sophia and Stephen were sitting uncomfortably at the table. Sofia's nails were bitten, and her hands were trembling slightly.

"Liz recovered the data, and we showed them the video chat." Mr Solomon explained quietly. _Oh._

I slid into a seat opposite Stephen and Sophia, and stayed silent. I wish this wasn't happening. I wish I could go back a few years and stop this from happening. If I hadn't found out about Blackthorne, I wouldn't have gotten so close to Zach. If I hadn't gotten so close to Zach, I would never be in this position.

Yes, I wouldn't have Zach, but I didn't really have him now, did I? He didn't even remember me, and he thought he was in love with Sara. I would rather not know Zach than let him be Sara's prisoner.

Liz sat down next to me and put a plate piled with food in front of me. "Eat." She ordered.

I started picking at my meal. "Don't worry, it's not like boys aren't allowed." Macey was talking on her mobile. She sat down next to me and stole a french fry off my plate. "Preston, honey, I love you but if you argue even more about this I will personally have to kick your butt all the way to Gallagher." I could hear Preston talking on the other end of the line.

"Preston." Macey's voice went from loving to stern. "No more arguing. Gallagher is a mansion with over 200 rooms. Granted, a few of them may blow your head off if you don't put your handprint on the door panel first, but I'll tell you which ones to avoid. Look, I am out of my mind with worry, and you better hope that you get here before I have a nervous breakdown. You are going to come to Gallagher where you'll be safe, and that is the end of the discussion."

After a moment's pause, Macey rolled her eyes and said, "I love you too." and hung up.

"Don't rub it in." I muttered, pushing my food around my plate.

Macey's eyes widened with horror. "Oh, my God, Cammie I'm sorry, I didn't think."

"It's fine. I'm sorry. I'm not the one who's lost a daughter," I glanced towards Stephen and Sophia, "Or a sister. Or my parents." I looked at Liz, then at Macey, who squeezed my hand in reply.

"So what are we going to do about it?" Stephen asked.

"We can't do anything. Unless you haven't noticed, Sara has the upper hand in just about everything." Liz pointed out.

I sighed, and put my face in my hands. It seemed like every little hill we got over- me and Zach escaping Sara, me getting my memory back, us getting back to Gallagher- wasn't worth it. Every problem we overcame was just met by a new one. It was all getting to be very repetitive.

"That's it." I murmured.

"What?" Liz's prodded me with her elbow.

"I was just thinking, Sara is getting repetitive. Every thing we do, she counters." I started fidgeting excitedly.

"What do you mean?" Sophia frowned.

"Look at the facts- you get your wife back, she takes another family member. I get Zach and my memory back, she takes Zach away and brainwashes him again, we strike against her and she just fights back by turning our victory into dead losses." I explained. "So with this in mind, we can figure out what her next move is going to be!"

"Well, not that that's a solid plan, but half of the Circle were recruited by Sara, and the other half don't want to get involved unless it's absolutely necessary." Stephen frowned.

"And the spy community is practically nonexistent," Liz added. "So even if we did have a plan, we wouldn't have enough people to put the plan into action."

"Erm, excuse me?" A soft voice interrupted from behind me. "We couldn't help but overhear, and well, we want to help." I turned around to find a senior standing at the front of a crowd of mostly juniors and sophomores, with a few freshmen as well. I stood up to face them.

"Look, thanks, and it's not like I- like we- don't appreciate it, but it's too dangerous. You haven't graduated and the person we're dealing with is-"  
"A psychopath, we get it. But we still want to help." The senior narrowed her blue eyes in determination. The way she stood reminded me of Bex- her honey coloured hair was slung casually over her shoulder, but her crossed arms and narrowed eyes made her look anything but casual. She looked ready to kick butt.

"Look- what's your name?"

"Meghan."

"Well, Meghan, I know that you want to help, but you need to stay here where it's safe." I told her.

"Cammie, right? You're pretty much famous around this school. You're the Chameleon. I've heard stories about you, sneaking out, getting kidnapped by his people," Meghan glared momentarily at Stephen, "Escaping, doing amazing things that usually spies twice your age dream of doing. If you had stayed here and followed the rules, you be who you are today. So don't tell me- don't tell us- what we can or can't do. Especially not after you broke every rule in the Gallagher rule book, not to mention, you befriended the enemy." Meghan looked at Stephen again.

I sighed. I looked at Macey and Liz. "There's nothing I can do to convince you to stay, is there?" I asked her.

"Nothing." Meghan met my gaze evenly.

"Well then, I'll let you join us. Under two conditions," I warned. "First, you listen to everything me or my friends tell you, and do what we tell you to do without question. I mean it." Meghan nodded enthusiastically. "And second, you're going to have to listen to them too." I pointed towards Stephen and Sophia.

Meghan looked taken aback. "But... they're Cavans. We know the story about Gillian and-"

"I don't care. They're not the enemies anymore. They're our allies." I said firmly._ And to some of us, apparently they're blood family as well. _

"Fine." Meghan agreed after a moment's hesitation. "So, what's next?"

"You're in luck girls. You're going to see Sublevel 5." I told them. The girls murmured excitedly, and I turned back to my friends.

"We still need to figure out a plan." Macey remarked.

"What's Sara's one weakness?" Liz wondered.

A weird thought struck me. "Wasn't Sara married?" I asked Stephen.

He nodded. "Yeah, she was married to Sylvan Ford's brother, you know..."  
"Sylvan Ford was the guy who kidnapped me, Sam and Zach, yeah I remember. But what happened to him? I mean, if Sara's pretending to be engaged to Zach, doesn't he mind or something...?"

"Sara and Eli Ford are sort of... on a break." Stephen began hesitantly. "They're not divorced, but they're getting there. Eli was happy where he was in the Circle, Sara wasn't and when she went rogue he didn't agree with what she was doing."  
"So... can't we use that against her?" I asked. "He must know her better than anyone else, and if he's not on her side, he's sort of on our side?"

"Well, it's worth a shot." Sophia said. "I'm willing to try anything to get Lennie back."  
"It is a very Bex-ish move." Macey worried at her lip.

"It is, but it just might work." I nodded. "Speaking of which, where is Bex?"

* * *

**MEANWHILE 5000 MILES OFF THE COAST OF NEW JERSEY**

**BEX**

"Is it just me or is it getting colder in here?" I asked, clenching my muscles to stop myself from shivering.

Sam nodded. "We need to find a way to get the train moving again."

"Are there any repair kits here?" Noah asked Sam. "With all the bullet holes in here, it's not a wonder something got broken, but if there's a spare toolkit somewhere I may be able to fix it."

"God, I hope there's one, but Gabe's the kind of guy who's so sure of himself he won't provide a fallback." Sam rubbed his hands together to keep them warm.

"Are you cold?" Grant asked me quietly. I looked up, surprised.  
"No, I'm fine." I told him, even though it was a lie.

"Bex, please." He gave me a look as if to say, _I know you too well,_ and wrapped his padded windbreaker around me.

"Thanks." I gave him a small smile. A loud groaning creak silenced us. It was soon followed by the sounds of metal clanging and cracking. "That sounds a lot like something's breaking." I said nervously.

Grant stepped closer to me, protectively. "Either that, or it's something that's soon going to break." The metal tunnel groaned again, as if it was agreeing with him.


	22. The Planning of Mission Impossible

**Sorry, I meant to upload yesterday. **

**The poll with who Bex will end up with will be closing Monday next week, unless they are tied in which case it will close on Friday.**

* * *

**CAMMIE**

Just five hours later Gallagher had gathered the resources and supplies we needed, despite the fact that I had told Meghan not to get her hopes up- if we could get in touch with some other spy facilities then they wouldn't be going with us at all. Other than that, we were pretty much all prepared- except we were missing one thing. Well, two things, if you counted Sam. And apparantly, there was no way we could find them.

"What do you mean, you can't track them?" I slammed my hands down on the table. The guy who Liz told me was Sam's friend, Gabriel, looked at me warily.

"I mean, I can't track them." Gabriel repeated with a frown. "Either they're out of range or something is broken."  
"You need to adjust your algorithm on your tracking satellite so you'll have a better range." Liz pointed out.

Gabriel then went on to say some very long complicated sounding words that I didn't understand, but apparantly Liz did and it made her tsk and start arguing in what Bex called nerd-talk.

"Geeks, please, take it elsewhere." I said tiredly, gesturing for them to go and argue somewhere else. Gabe and Liz stopped their arguing for a second to glare at me, but then began arguing even more.  
"Just let me correct it, and if it doesn't work then you can say 'I told you so'!" Liz said, reaching for the computer.  
"Buh buh-buh buh buh!" Gabriel exclaimed, flicking Liz's hands away.

"If that was morse code, that was incredibly bad." Liz remarked, taking the laptop anyway, despite Gabriel's protests.  
I sighed and perched myself on the table where Nerd 1 and Nerd 2 were sat, and looked around the room to amuse myself. Abby had put some rules on the blackboard-  
Rule 1- Each group shall consist of between 4-6 people.

Rule 2- Each group must have 2 seniors and 2 juniors accompanying anyone younger than a sophomore, or 3 juniors and one senior accompanying anyone younger than a sophomore.

Rule 3- Those younger than sophomore year cannot have a weapon above a Grade 2 on the Pettinski School Weaponry Scale.

There were half a dozen more rules, which showed just how concerned about this mission Abby was- usually she only had two or three rules, four at the most. Macey was missing from the room, because she was waiting for Preston to arrive on his jet, with an engine designed by Liz. Usually, the flight time from Hungary to Virginia was 9 hours, but with Liz's specially designed engine the flight time was cut down to five hours. Abby and Joe kept looking at eachother from across the room, just small glances every few seconds, but it was enough to show me they did really care about each other.

Meanwhile, closer to me, Liz finished tapping out a 64 character sequence, and after a triumphant laugh Liz told Gabriel, "And that's how you do it!"

"Did you manage to locate them?" I asked, hopping off the desk and kneeling next to Liz.

"I did one better. It's tracking them right now, but when we establish a connection with the tracker, I can hack into the security camera and microphones." Liz stopped to look at Gabriel. "You do have those, right?"

"Of course I do." Gabriel said irritably.  
Liz tapped her fingers impatiently against the desk until a moment later when five live streamed video images of the inside of what looked like a train frozen under ice popped up. In one of them, Bex, Sam and two other people were shivering under blankets around a dying fire made out of an emergency fire kit.  
"Oh, my God. Bex?" I cried out.

* * *

**BEX**

"Oh, my God. Bex?" My eyes fluttered open at the voice. it sounded like Cammie, but weird and mechanical.  
"Great, now I'm hearing things." I muttered.

"I heard that too." Noah groaned from under his blanket, in the opposite corner. We had all given up on trying to fix the train hours ago, and since then it had frozen from the cold so much that everything was covered in thick layers of frost. We also had no food, because the mini fridge had been frozen shut.

"Camms?" I asked cautiously. Nothing happened. It was just a hallucination. Then...  
"Yeah, I'm here, Bex. And so's Liz." I could have cried with relief when I heard Cammie's voice. "What's happening with you guys? Why is the train so... snowy?"

"The Alliance came by and blew the train to bits." Sam filled in. "It stopped working a few hours ago. We can't get it to move."  
"It's really cold. And we're running out of oxygen. It's getting pretty hard to breathe." I added. I glanced quickly at my fingers, which had turned from vivid red to pale blue in the past hour.  
"Don't worry. We're going to do everything we can to get you out of there." Liz reassured us.

"You're never going to get to us in time." Noah said neutrally- we had all accepted we were probably going to die down here.  
"Look, you won't get to us but there's something I need you to do." Sam spoke up. "My friend, Gabriel, he was here but I'm guessing when the Alliance came here they took him. Long story short, I owe him one and he's as smart as Liz is, so he could really be useful to you."  
"Please, I am so much smarter than Liz." A male voice scoffed through the speakers. "But thanks for the thought."  
Sam swore with relief. "Jesus, Gabe, I thought you were dead!"

"Oh yeah, I heard your speech, and I'm touched. So... when I get your butt out of there you're going to owe me another one." Gabe's voice crackled through the speakers. "It's a bit complicated, but there's an over-ide - on th- -back-nel " The speaker crackled and fizzed, cutting off Gabriel's voice.  
"Gabe, I can't hear you." Sam's voice fell to a hoarse whisper, out of tiredness. All of us were getting more and more exhausted by the minute. It took a lot of effort to keep my eyes awake, when most of my energy was going to trying to stay warm. And honestly, I wasn't doing a good job at staying warm.

"I sai- there- - -ride but- th- -ack pan-" Gabe's voice crackled.

"-Ex ca- yo- -r - me?" Cammie's worries voice came said. I couldn't even find the strength to reply. All I wanted to do was close my eyes. The speaker crackled and fizzed out of life. The synthetic fire we made from the emergency firestarter was dying out.  
I wished I could reverse time, back to when I was warm. Sam had just made the fire, Noah and Grant were trying to find food. There was no food or water, so Sam had improvised by knocking off a block of ice from the freezer handle, and melting it.

"Mm, yum." I had said sarcastically. "Melted ice, my favourite!"  
Sam nudged me and said, "Come on, my melted ice is simply to die for."

I had never been one for spy emergency provisions, especially not using water as food and drink, but I still took a tentative sip of the water.  
"Hmpf. I've had better." I teased.  
Sam raised and eyebrow and smirked - he looked scarily like Zach when he did that. "Now we both know that's not true." I smiled, and huddled closer to the fire, loving the warmth of the flames.

"Bex. Wake up." Noah's foot nudged me. My eyes snaped open. The warmth from my dream was gone- I was freezing again.  
"What?" I murmured.  
"Grant and Sam have been unconcious for the past ten minutes. I can't get them to wake up." Noah said. "And my fingers are so cold I can't feel their pulse." If they even have one. Noah didn't have to say it, but we were both thinking it.

Sam's lips were blue. Grant was barely breathing. And even though I cared, I just couldn't stay awake. My muscles hurt. It hurt to breathe. I didn't want to be awake. I closed my eyes, my mind swarming with thoughts of Sam, Grant, Sam, Grant, Sam, Grant.

**CAMMIE**  
"What happened?" I asked.  
"The cold must've frozen the recievers." Liz said.  
"Crap. They didn't hear me." Gabriel put his head in his hands.  
"Isn't there another way to access the override?" I asked.

"There could be. In case of an emergency I put a backup generator that would power the train and override any commands put in before the train stopped working." Gabriel explained, typing in a code. I waited impatiently while Gabriel typed out a 75 character code.  
"There. We're in, and we can use the override generator." Gabe clicked his fingers in annoyance. "But we can either use it to heat up the train or to get it moving. So what's it going to be?"

"Heat it up." Liz said, while I told him, "Get it moving."  
"They need to get here as soon as possible." I told Liz.

"If they don't get some heat in there, they're going to freeze to death before we can get them anywhere. Besides, the wheels must be frozen to the tracks." Liz reasoned.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked. Liz bit her lip, deep in thought.  
"Wait, what we override the override, and direct half the power to the heating, and half the power to moving the train?" Liz suggested.  
"It's going to be complicated, and we're going to have to time the power usage so we don't use up all of the generator's power before the wheels are unfrozen, otherwise this isn't going to work." Gabriel said, pulling up another chair for Liz to sit in.

I bit my nails nervously while Liz and Gabriel worked nonstop. They couldn't take any longer for 10 minutes otherwise Bex, Sam and those two other people they were with wouldn't survive the cold.  
They had to work so quickly they were worried they were going to make mistakes, so they alternated between writing codes and checking it. I paced around nervously. When Macey and Preston joined us, they also paced nervously.

When Liz hit the ENTER button we all held out breath. "There." She said. "It's working. Or at least, it should be working."  
"How do we know for sure?" Macey asked.

"We have to wait. But this is foolproof." Liz leaned back and ran her hand through her short blonde hair. "Good job, Gabe."  
Gabriel nodded grimly. "You too."  
Once we had Bex and Sam, we could finally move forward with the mission. We would get Zach back, stop the Alliance and everything will be back to normal, the way things should be.

"Until then, we need to recruit as many spies as we can to help us." I told Macey and Preston. "You guys are the kids of politicians, I'm hoping you picked up some tricks over the years?"  
Preston looked unusually flustered. "I wouldn't know how to recruit spies." He told me.

"Oh, it's easy. Just give them a no-nonsense attitude and they'll respect you. Then you just have to persuade them to send as much help as they can."

"I'll be with you the whole time, it'll be easy!" Macey dragged him over to a bunch of phones in the corner of the room.  
This was good. In 12 hours - maximum- I would be back with Zach. I could hardly wait.


	23. Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

**Sorry for the delay, but my wi-fi seemed to think now would be the perfect time to stop working :/**

"Okay, I need four emergency oxygen tanks, thermal covers and medical heaters." Dr Tannen said, and the nurses around him bustled to get the supplies the doctor had asked them to get.

I clutched Liz and Macey's hands so hard my knuckles turned white. For once in her life Bex looked small and tiny, and she was so cold and still. Two hours after Liz and Gabe had put in their override code, the train had arrived in one of the underground stations Gabe had built near Roseville. The inside of the train had only heated up to minus five degrees.

Now Bex, Sam, Grant- who I was really surprised to find- and another boy we didn't know, were on hospital beds with wheels, wrapped in what looked like cellophane aluminium foil. Bex was unconscious, as were the rest of them.  
"You were very lucky." Dr Tannen told us after examining his charts. "If they had gotten here ten minutes later they would have been dead." That didn't really give us any relief, but it was something at least.

I turned to Preston. "Thank you." I said quietly. He looked at me with a quizzical look.  
"What for? I didn't do anything." Preston told me.

"Yes, you did. If you hadn't called Dr Tannen's MI5 Virginia division and convinced them to send over some people, including their doctor, Bex, Sam, all of them, would be dead or dying right now. So, thank you." I told him.

Preston nodded modestly. "No problem."  
I followed Dr Tannen into a room we had set up as an Emergency Medical Room, and I watched Bex's heart monitor beat slowly. According to the heart rate monitor, slowly but surely Bex's heart was getting stronger.  
"She's never going to get better in time." I told my friends, who were sat next to Bex's bed. Liz clasped one of Bex's hands in between her palms. One of Bex's fingers twitched.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Macey asked me.  
"I think we should go ahead without her. If we wait any longer Sara's just going to get stronger and stronger and-"  
"Excuse me?" Dr Tannen cleared his throat behind us. "The patient- er, Grant Newman, is it?- is awake, and he's asking that you see him."  
I nodded, and reluctantly left my friends behind to go see Grant. I let myself in while Dr Tannen went to see to Sam. Grant looked like he was asleep, but when I moved towards his bed his eyes flickered open.

"You wanted to talk to me?" I asked quietly. Grant nodded. "You have a lot of explaining to do."  
"I know. Where do you want me to start?" Grant closed his eyes.  
"How did you end up with Bex, who is the stranger, how come you're awake first even though you were in the worst shape and why did you want to see me?" I blurted. "Not necessarily in that order."

"I ended up with Bex because me and Noah- that's the guy who was with me- were hired by a woman called Sara to kill her and that guy, Sam- by the way, did you know he's Zach's brother?- anyway, once I found out Bex was the mark I wouldn't kill her. She told me what was going on, and I want to help. I woke up first because at Blackthorne, as you can imagine our training is more... difficult than the training at Gallagher. I imagine that Noah will wake up next, because our training lets us endure more than most." Grant said. "Which brings us to why I want to see you. Like I said, I want to help."

"How? You're not exactly in the best position to be helping anybody but yourself." I remarked.  
"Well, in a way I am helping myself. After the junior students from Blackthorne left Gallagher, though Zach left us and life moved on I never forgot. I couldn't keep Bex off my mind." Grant explained. "If I help you now, she can finally be happy. And that would be enough to make me happy."

I looked at him carefully. "How can you help us then?"  
Grant sat up, and very carefully started taking the wires off of his arms and hands and removed the electrodes from his chest. The heart monitor stopped pulsing but instead a continuous beep was heard. A nurse rushed into the room, but I turned off the heart monitor and waved her away, because Grant was obviously fine. "I'm going to call in some favours at Blackthorne. You should have their help as well."  
"Thank you." I said. He was right, I would need their help. Our little 'army' was a little depleted in it's numbers- the students at Gallagher, the Circle members who were willing to help, and the few agents Macey and Preston had managed to convince to help us. I went to the little closet in the room and tossed Grant some men's clothes. "Meet me outside in ten minutes."

While Grant got dressed I went to get Macey and Liz from Bex's room, but none of them were there.  
"Liz?" I called down the empty hallway outside Bex's room. "Mace?"  
"Over here!" I followed Macey's voice into an alcove full of paintings of the Gallagher headmistresses- Strong Gillian, wise Prudence, smiling Neave, beautiful Victoria, sad Claudia, humble Heather- where Macey, Liz, Grant, Sam, Noah and Bex were stood arguing.  
"There is no way you're coming with us!" Macey told Bex firmly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"There is no way I'm not coming with you." Bex put her hands on her hips. They looked like a black panther and a gold leopard fighting over terretory.  
"Me too." Sam said.  
"Me three." Added Grant.  
"Well, it's not like I have anything better to do." Noah shrugged.  
"So that's four againt three. Majority rules- we're going with you." Bex smiled winningly.

"Look, just take them with us. We don't have any time to waste." I brushed my fingers through my hair tiredly. Bex cheered.  
"Great! Let me just grab my shoes!" I hadn't even noticed that Bex was already dressed- as were Sam and Noah. Great minds think alike- or in this case, stubborn minds think alike.  
I sighed and went to the garage to take the keys for an armoured black Land Rover. A few minutes later, Grant got in the front passenger seat, and Liz, Macey, Bex, Gabe and Sam squished into the back.

Grant told me where to drive to, and 56 minutes and 19 seconds later we pulled up outside the gloomy and ominous Blackthorne. Maybe it was just me, but it had gotten creepier since the last time we were here.  
The black gates had electrified barbed wire coiling around the top, there were dead thorns clinging to the building, there were bars over the windows, security cameras and fifteen people with guns patrolling the perimiter of the school grounds. It actually looked more like a modern prisoner of war camp than a school.

"Dun dun duuuuuun." Bex whispered from the backseat.  
"Everyone get out of the car. From now on we have to walk." Grant said. Macey and Sam circled round to the back of the car to hand out guns to everybody. Noah, Grant and Sam took the huge arm-length guns than assassins used- even though Sam wasn't actually a trained assassin- and the rest of us took normal handguns.

Grant and Noah's expressions had changed from casual to hard, detirmined- it was quite scary.  
Even Grant's voice had changed. "Alright, here's what's going to happen. Ladies, you stay behind me and Noah- and Sam you can take care of yourself, right?" Grant started ordering us. Bex raised her eyebrow at him. "Don't shoot anybody. Don't make any suspicious moves or give any of the guards a reason to start shooting you. Leave all the talking to me and Noah. Got it? Let's move out."  
"Jeez, Grant. Lighten up." Bex muttered. Grant seemed to remember we were his allies, not his enemies and said, "Sorry. But you have no idea how this place works. It's dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt." I didn't know if he said you as in 'all of you' or 'you' as in Bex specifically.

As we approached the Gate of Doom, one of the guards came up to the gate with his gun pointed at us. "Identify yourselves."  
"Agent Newman and Agent Fuller. Division AK-5." Grant said confidently. "We're not enemies."  
"Let me just confirm that." The guy with the gun talked into his Walkie-Talkie, never taking his eyes off us or lowering his gun. "You two are cleared, but who are they." The guard jerked his chin towards us.

"Friends. Agents Baxter, McHenry, Sutton, Morgan and Goode." Grant said coolly. "We need to talk to whoever's running the school at the moment." At the moment? What did the headmasters get so scared of their own school they ditched their job after a few weeks or something?  
"Goode, you said? Zachary Goode left this acadamy years ago." The guard narrowed his eyes.  
"I know. This is his brother, and I don't see how this is relevant." Grant glared at the guard, who talked into his walkie-talkie some more.  
"Fine. You're cleared to go in. But make one move I don't like and I'll shoot." The guard said.

"Please, James, we know you." Noah stepped forward smirking. "You're all talk and no action. How would you like to change that?"  
"Keep talking." The guard- James, who apparantly Noah and Grant knew- said, while leading us inside the black stone academy.  
"You heard about the Alliance?" Noah asked him. I aw the muscles in James's back stiffen.

"Those are taboo words around here, Fuller. Watch your mouth." James warned.  
"Nevertheless, we need people to help us take them down. Tonight." Noah told him. "And I know you would just love to shoot one of them wouldn't you James? Didn't they take your brother?"

James stopped suddenly. I had to admit, he was good. He knwe which buttons to push. "Fine, Fuller. You win. I'll help you." James said. "But I can't say the same about this new guy. He's a bit of a wuss." He barged into the office of the headmaster without knocking.  
The headmaster was in a chair that faced the window. When he swivelled around, I nearly dropped my gun when I saw who it was.  
"Cammie! What a very unpleasant surprisel." Dr Steve told me, smiling arrogantly. I leaped forward without realising what I was doing, ready to punch the smile off Dr Steve's face, but Bex caught me and restrained me.  
"Let me go!" I yelled at her. She only grasped me rund my waist tighter.

"No, Cammie, he's not worth it! Think about Zach. We need him to help us." Bex told me. I stopped struggling, but my hands wrapped tighter around the trigger of the gun.  
"And just why would I help you? I do know why you're here, but I don't see how it would benefit me in any way." Dr Steve folded his hands demurely in front of himself.  
"Let me tell you how it's going to help." I spat. "I'm not going to blow a hole in your head, I won't tell Stephen how you're refusing to co-operate with us despite the fact he told the Circle to help us, and your students get field training. I'm not asking you to give us permission to use any students willing to help us, I'm telling you."

"I would listen to here if I were you, Dr Steve, I've never seen her this angry." Bex remarked. James was right- he was a wuss. His face paled and he announced on the loudspeaker- "All students who want to participate in a mission in the outside courtyard ready in their gear with weapons, immediately!"

"I knew you would see things our way." I told him sweetly, marching out the door and into the courtyard, where students were already lining up. The boys went to get more cases of weapons from the storeroom, and us girls went to inform the students about the mission.  
When they saw us, ther eyes widened for a moment in surprise, and then they composed themselves.  
"Listen up boys. We're on a mission to take down the Alliance. All those who want to join us stay here. If you don't want to stay, go back to your dorms."

None of the boys moved. Bex smiled. "I thought not. Here's what's going to happen. We are going to fly out with around a hundred other agents to England. We are going to break into the Alliance headquarters and we are going to take back what they took from us. Don't get too trigger happy, we're shooting to injure, not to kill, got it?"

"Why do we have to take orders from a bunch of girls?" One of the seniors called. The rest of the group snickered.  
"Would you rather take orders from them?" Macey asked, pointing towards Grant, Gabe, Noah and Sam. Grant and Noah had scary, detirmined expressions on their faces, Gabe no longer looked like a super-genius who belonged behind a desk but a guy who was prepared to kill, and Sam looked like he could rip you to shreds using only his pinkie fingers.

The students shook their heads, and Macey grinned barbarically. "I thought not."  
"Everybody know what they're doing? Good. Let's go."

* * *

I whistled under my breath, wringing my hands nervously. The plane shook a little with turbulence, but I didn't care. ONe part of me knew what to do- get in, achieve the mission, get out. The other part was less certain. All it could keep thinking of was _Zach Zach Zach Zach Zach_.  
Get a grip, Cammie. You can do this.

"I'm coming with you." Grant told Bex in a low voice. "I won't leave you to stand and fight your parents alone. We'll face them together, that way it'll be easier." Bex smiled a small smile.  
"Thank you." Was all she said.

"Just try not to get yourself killed, okay?" Gabe told Liz.  
"First of all, I do have field agent training, and second of all, why would you care if I died?" Liz asked.  
"It would be a shame if you died. Then I would be the single smartest spy, and that job gets kinda lonely." Gabe shrugged. Liz rolled her eyes but smiled.

"Gabe. I just got off the phone with Shauna Lennox. She's going to send in her agents as well." Sam tossed a mobile phone to his friend.  
I looked out of the window to see twin jets, containing the Gallagher and Blackthorne students, as well as some Circle agents too.  
Underneath me, the rolling green hills of England came into view. This was the moment I had been waiting for.  
_Here I come Sara_, I thought. _If I were you, I would be very, very afraid._


	24. Part 1

**I really wanted to upload this chapter as soon as I could, and this is just the first of a few parts about what's going on in the Alliance Headquarters. If I was to write it out all in one chapter, it would be a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery long chapter, believe me.**

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**PART 1**

**(By the way, see if you can spot the hidden words. If you do find them, review what they are lol)**

**CAMMIE**

I signalled to the students at Blackthorne to spread out across the perimeter of the Alliance manor. Finally they weren't complaining that they were being bossed around by girls, and they got on with the mission. They had the same expression that Sam, Noah and Grant did- total determination, mixed in with a look that said, "If you get in my way, I _will_ kill you". It was scary, but in a good way.

"I do hope the party hasn't started without me?" I whipped my head around to find Catherine standing behind me. She wore midnight black clothes, her red hair was wrapped in a tight bun, and there was a gun tucked into her belt.

"What are you doing here?" Sam hissed. We had decided we would each have a companion- Grant and Bex, Macey and Noah, Liz and Gabe, me and Sam. I was quite glad- I realised Sam was my rock when my friends weren't there. He was a good spy, just like Zach.

Catherine narrowed her eyes. "I would have thought you would be happy to see me. I brought reinforcements." Catherine stepped aside to reveal a scruffy man with longish sandy hair that looked as if it hadn't but cut in a while and stubble. I didn't recognise him as much as I recognised his brother, Sylvan Ford who kidnapped me over a year ago. He looked so much like his brother...his name was Eli, I think. Yes, Eli Ford, the man who was married (or used to be married) to Sara before she went cuckoo for cocoa puffs with power and revenge.

"Eli Ford." I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "Stephen couldn't find you. You've been MIA for months, and suddenly Catherine shows up with you in tow? You see how I would find this suspicious."

"I just want closure." Eli told me tiredly. Closure. I could understand that.

"Fine." I conceded. "Eli can come with me and Sam. Catherine you can go... I don't know. Somewhere."

"Zach and Sam are my sons. I have the right to go with them." Catherine objected. Sam looked queasy.

"A group of three is already too big. We have to work this out later. Right now, I need to get in, disable the alarms, and then meet up with Sam and Eli to find Sara and Zach." I hissed at Catherine. She didn't say anything but glared at me.

We all had a plan- Macey was going to distract the guard at the gates so he wouldn't notice when the defences shut off, Liz was going to crack the codes to open the gates, all I had to do was input them, and Bex had to get in position to direct the agents where to go.

Sam pressed his finger to the receiver in his ear, listening to someone. Meanwhile, I got ready to scale the walls. They were heat-sensitive, so I would need to make my hands cold. I couldn't help thinking about the severity of this. People could die. I might never get to see Zach again. I might never get to see any of my friends again.

This was the most dangerous mission I had ever been on. Ever. The stakes were high. One mistake and everything that could go wrong, would go wrong. And it was entirely up to me whether or not this mission would succeed.

I sprayed freeze spray on my hands, and then hooked my rappel-a-cord up to a carabiner. I took in a deep breath. _Come on, Cammie, you can do this_, I told myself.

"Bex is in position, Liz has cracked to codes to open the gates, Macey's managed to get rid of the guard at the entrance. And now Zach's waiting for you Cammie."

"I know. Just give me a minute." I breathed.

"Cammie, I believe in you. And Zach trusts you. You have to go now."

"If I don't... If I don't get out, tell everyone I loved them, OK?" My voice trembled.

"I won't have to- you will get out."

"But, if I don't. Promise me?" I looked to my right.

"I promise."

"Thank you, Sam." I exhaled. Then I started to climb.

The rappel-a-cord was just to make sure if I fell I could recover easily, but I had to climb using the notches from erosion in the stone of the wall. Up, up, up until I reached a window. I used a micro-laser to cut the glass, and slid into the cold hallway. It reeked of wet stones and a weird medical smell. It was so cold, I could see my breath as mist in the air.

Unfortunately, Liz couldn't get the blueprint for the inside of the manor, and I had to go in from a different place from last time, so I couldn't rely on my memory. When I heard footsteps, I immediately hid behind a corner.

"-think she's getting a little paranoid. I mean, they wouldn't want to lose any more agents, would they?" A male voice said, bursting into laughter. He wheezed and snorted when he laughed.

"Yeah, I know what you mean but she's the boss. Right, well see you. I've got to go order a new security system._ Again._" The second voice said.

"That's alright. I've got to go give the Baxter prisoners a new dose of the control serum. They keep fighting it." The first voice sighed. "Oh, God, it's all the way on the other side of the compound isn't it? Joy."

"Just stop by the cafeteria first and get some coffee. It looks like it's going to be a long night. Hey, while you're at it, get me a cup. I've got to analyse the security tapes in the prisoner rooms, look for any signs of them remembering who they really are." The second voice suggested. The two men started walking in opposite directions, but I knew which way they were going by how fain their voices were getting. Number 1 was going left, but Number 2 was going right.

I followed Number 2, hoping that he would have to go to the security room to analyse the CCTV tapes. And hopefully, in the security room there would be the off switch for the alarms. 47 steps, two hallways and a door with a fifteen-character entry code later, 2 still didn't realise I was following him. Either I was that good, or he was that bad.

He went inside, and just before the door closed I stuck my foot in the doorway so the door couldn't slam shut. "Hey! What the- who are you?" I now saw 2 was wearing an ID tag that named him Leroy Carter.

"You don't need to know who I am." I said, flicking my leg up so the toes of my boots made contact with his nose. Leroy's nose immediately started pouring blood, and his chair slid back from the impact and crashed into a filing cabinet. He groaned with pain. I took my gun out of my waistband and pointed it towards him. "Liz? The codes, please."

Liz told me "Type this in very carefully- 281-5XK-G4LL-AGH-3R. Press enter. Then type in the password, Z4MM13/./BL4CK7H0RN3 , then the second access code, 21235-GGBB3628." I typed the code in with my spare hand. A second later, the Security System on/off lights went from green to red.

"Got it." I said. A moment later Liz told me, "Good. They're open. Everybody move out."

After she did that, I did a special trick of my own I had learnt at Gallagher- I played the security tapes on a loop so it would look as if there was nothing going on in the hallways or the rooms."

I then turned to Leroy, whose nose had stopped bleeding. "Your prisoner, Zachary Goode, where is he?" I clicked the safety off the gun.

Leroy's face went as white as a sheet. "This manor has a hundred acres of land, and the manor itself is bigger than the White House. You're never going to find them in time."

"I didn't ask how big this manor is, I asked where they are." I said firmly, my voice was loud and angry.

"I won't tell you." Leroy said.

"Tell me, or I'll shoot you." I said, and I meant it. Leroy said nothing, so I shot him in the leg. The gunshot was silenced, and it was only a flesh would that shouldn't have been too painful, would heal in no time, but Leroy screamed so loudly I wondered if the whole manor could hear him.

"OKAY! OKAY! I'LL TELL YOU!" Leroy yelled. He was gasping from shock, and he would soon pass out. "He's in the North Wing, Room two-three-" and then he passed out.

I left Leroy where he was in his chair but shot the access code panel inside the room so no-one could undo what I had done, and shot the access code panel outside the room so nobody would be able to get in.

I put the safety of the gun on, and walked down the hall. "Sam, I know where Zach is. North wing, room 23-something. The guy never told me the full room number. And I'm betting where Zach is, Sara will be there too."

"Good. Let's go get your fiancé back." Sam told me.

"No, let's go get your brother back." I corrected him. We both cared about Zach a lot, but I had gotten to spend more time with him in the past few years than Sam had all his life. He deserved to be recognised as Zach's brother.

Either way, we would get Zach back. No matter what it took.

**LIZ**

"Who are we looking for, again?" Gabe asked me.

"My sister." I told him. My baby sister. She hadn't even started school and her life was a mess. I hadn't gotten any information about her, unlike the rest of my friends; Bex knew her parents were part of Sara's fighting minion troop, Stephen and Sophia knew their daughter thought Sara was her aunt, Cammie knew Zach was brainwashed and thought he was engaged to Sara, and Macey knew her parents were simply being kept hostage. I didn't know anything- and I didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Gabe looked sad. "Oh."

"What's up with you?" I asked, my eyes narrowed. I checked the hall for people, with my gun raised- it was clear.

"Nothing. I'm completely fine." He said, but I knew he was lying.

"So, how do you know Sam?" I asked.

"Is now really the time to be playing 20 Questions?" Gabe asked, checking the other hallway.

"I need to keep my mind off my sister. I'm scared for her." I admitted.

"The Circle, they wanted me to do something for them. The people from the Circle I knew were a small group who were conducting their own missions without Stephen's knowledge. They wanted me to make them something, something that was really bad. It would have killed a lot of people." Gabe explained. "When I refused them, they took my sister. They said if I didn't make them what they had told me to make, they would kill her. I didn't really believe them, back then I didn't think anybody could be so... Evil. My sister, Ellie, she made me promise not to give them what they wanted. She said, if I did she would hate me forever, and she told me never to give in to them, no matter what. I kept my promise, and they killed her."

I was stunned into silence. "I met Sam, because he knew what had happened to Ellie, and he offered me a deal- avenge her death by helping him and this guy called Matthew Morgan take down the Circle."

"_Matthew Morgan_?" I exclaimed. "That's Cammie's dad!"

"Is he? I never knew. The Circle killed Sam's dad and he found Matthew because he wanted to get revenge on them. On the day of their mission, Sam was about to get found out as being a Circle traitor, so Matthew told me to get him the hell out of the building. Sam had accidentally set off a silent alarm that locked him in the room. He was about to die of poisoned gas, but I dragged him out of there in time. That's why he says he owes me one. Once we got out, we found out Matthew, because he told me to save Sam, had gotten caught. Sam still blames himself for Matthew's capture and death." Gabe finished.

"I never knew." Sam seemed different to me now. We came to a hallway that split off into two directions. "We need to split up. I'll go left, you go right."

We headed off in our different directions without another word. This hallway was full of rooms that doubled as cells. My sister wasn't in any of them. As I turned around, I nearly headbanged into the chest of a man who towered two feet over me. When he smiled, I saw flashes of gold in his teeth.

He grabbed my gun and tossed it away. "I do believe you're not supposed to be here. And it's such a shame that I'm going to have to kill you, really. You're such a pretty young lady."

He stepped closer to me, backing me against the wall until I had no way out. I thought of my friends, my sister, my parents, Gabe, then I closed my eyes.

**GABE**

On the fifteenth door in my hallway, I saw a tiny girl with a shock of pale blond hair sitting in the corner of her room. She must be Liz's sister. I shot at the door handle until it blew off and stormed into the room.

The girl's face was streaked with tears. "Please don't hurt me." She whimpered.

I stopped abruptly, shocked that she was so terrified. She looked like a scared little faerie, and I didn't know how anyone could ever possibly think of hurting such a small, harmless girl.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I promise." I lowered myself into a crouch so I would seem less threatening. "I'm a friend of Liz's."

The girls blue eyes widened. "My sister. Is she okay?"

I chuckled. "Yes. She's looking for you. Come on, let's get you out of here. What's your name?" Stretching my hand out to her.

"Jenny." She said, taking my hand. I helped her up. She was shaking really badly out of fear.

"Jenny. I'm Gabe. Come on, you're safe with me." I led her outside.

Three gunshots were heard from the opposite hallway. _Liz. _

**STEPHEN**

"Room 519. Just like the guard downstair said." I said triumphantly. It was amazing how co-operative people were if you pointed a gun at them.

"Let's just hope she's okay." Sophia told me, clasping my hand. In her other hand she had a small syringe of cloudy fluid Elizabeth Sutton had given us to fight the effects of the brainwashing serum.

Sophia nervously edged open the door. It was dark inside, but it was very clearly a pink room, full of children's toys.

Lenny was asleep on the bed in the corner of the room. She opened her eyes sleepily, and when she saw us, she blinked.

"Mommy? Daddy?" She asked in her little voice. I exhaled with relief. Maybe Sara hadn't brainwashed her- which was lucky for her because if she so much as harmed a hair on my little girl's head she would have died slowly and painfully.

"Yes, sweetie." Sophia was crying. Lenny rushed into her mother's arms, flinging her arms around her neck. Sophia petted Lenny's hair. I put my arms around both my girls, and whispered, "Come on. Let's get her home."

Sophia and Lenny would be going to our home for safety, but I would stay here. If there was one things Cavans always did, it was look after family. And, no matter how distant it was, no matter how much she hated me, Cameron Morgan was still family.

**Did you find the hidden words? If not, look over the Codes part again ;)**


	25. Part 2

**You requested it, so I'm posting Part 2 a day early. **

**The hidden words were- Gallagher, Zammie, Blackthorne, GG (as in gallagher girl) and BB (as in blackthorne boy)**

**Congratulations to- , Rangobean, Guest (whose name i don't know), NicoleGoode, GallagherGirlXOX, Lol, Zach-Goode's-girl xxx and Mima2408 who found the words and commented them. Also, congratulations to you if you got them but you weren't mentioned.**

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**PART 2**  
**GABE**  
"Liz?" I yelled down the hallway.  
There were three people that I could see- one was a huge muscly man crumpled on the floor, then two more guys stood up. They had long guns in their hands.

Without thinking about it, I went to punch them, but Liz rushed past the two guys to stop me.  
"Gabe! Gabe! No, stop! They're Blackthorne students!" She told me.

"I thought you were dead!" I exhaled, hugging her so hard I could feel she was having a hard time breathing. She was surprised, but she hugged me back.  
"Well, I'm fine now. These guys saved me." Liz stood on her tiptoes to peer over my shoulder. "Jenny!" She rushed over to her sister. "Gabe, you found her! Thank you so much!" While Liz talked quickly to her sister, I looked at the guy who, I figured, was going to attack Liz. He was lying in a crumpled heap on the floor, with a pool of blood around him.

"Oh, God, you didn't kill him, did you?" I asked, grimacing.  
"Really? You're complaining about_ how_ we saved your girlfriend?" One of the students asked.

I was about to say "She's not my girlfriend." but the other Blackthorne student told me, "He's not dead. We know how to listen to orders."  
Either they know how to listen to orders, or they're just afraid of Bex. It was most likely they were afraid of Bex.

"I need you to get my sister out of here." Liz turned back to the boys. "And keep her safe, okay?"  
"What? No, Lizzy I can't leave you." Jenny protested. "That woman, you have no idea how-"  
But we didn't get to find what she was going to say, because one of the students picked Jenny up with one hand and threw her over his shoulder.

"Keep your head down, don't talk and try not to move, okay?" He ordered her, before he and his friend started running to get out of the building.

"What do we do now?" I asked Liz. She turned back to me, the determined expression back on her face.  
"Now, we go find Sara." She told me firmly

**CAMMIE**  
"Room 237, 238, 239, room 240." I felt the despair creeping into my voice. "And he's not here."  
"Maybe the guy was lying to you." Sam suggested, double checking the rooms. They were all empty.  
"No, he wasn't lying." I knew that much, at least. I turned to Eli. "Do you know where she might be?"  
"How would I know?" He asked sticking his thumbs his the pockets of his jeans.

"You were married? Don't you know how she thinks by now?" Sam told him for me.  
"Well, apparently I didn't know her as well as I thought I did. But if I were her, and I thought that at any minute somebody might break in to steal my prisoners, I would change the room I was keeping my prisoners in quite often. Either that, or I would keep my most important prisoner with me at all times." Eli shrugged.

"Great. So we're back to square one." I sighed. Sam pulled me down into a crouch against the wall, just a second before a man came walking past. Eli started walking towards them. Sam grabbed at his sleeve but Eli shook him off.  
"What are you doing?" I hissed. Eli ignored me kept walking.  
"Eli." The man exclaimed.  
"I need to see Sara." Eli said. "Where is she?"

"I-er, I didn't know you were going to be visiting. You haven't come here in months." The man looked flustered.  
"Stop babbling, George, I need to see Sara. Just tell me where she is." Eli snapped.  
"She's in her room- 23 on the top floor- with the prisoner Zachary Goode." George said.  
"Attaboy." Eli said quietly, grabbing Carl's head and turning it abruptly to the side. George collapsed on the floor. "Don't worry, he's just unconscious." He turned to me and Sam. "We should hurry, when he wakes up he's going to let everyone know we're here."  
"Its really amazing that we haven't been caught yet." Sam said, helping me up off the ground.

"Well if we haven't gotten caught already it means we will be soon." I sighed. It's just the way things go on missions as big as these, no matter how good the agents are. But, hopefully this mission would go as well as it could do.  
"Come on. Room 23 is this way." Eli started leading the way. Hopefully we would be lucky this time. Because Zach was in this building, but I couldn't reach him. And it was driving me crazy.

**BEX**  
"All I'm saying is, you shouldn't have to do this." Grant told me, scanning the halls and rooms for people.  
"And all I'm saying is, it's fine. I'm totally fine. I can absolutely do this." I told him firmly. I was totally lying- I didn't want to see my parents looking at me as if I was the enemy; I didn't want to have to fight them to subdue them enough to give them the anti brainwashing serum Liz had made.

If Grant knew I was lying, he didn't say anything about it. About fifteen rooms back we came across a woman with turquoise glasses and frizzy red hair typing reports onto a computer. A little drop of truth serum later we found out my parents were being kept in room 603 on the B floor.  
We reached room 603 and I took a deep breath, then kicked the door open. Abe and Grace Baxter were inside, just as the woman with the glasses said they would be. When I came into the room, they looked up at me, but it wasn't with anger or distrust, but with surprise and guilt.  
"Becky." My mother breathed with relief, standing up with her arms outstretched to hug me. She refused to call me Bex, and ever since I was 10 she's called my Rebecca, but when I was little and still had pigtails, she called me Becky. It was weird being called Becky again, especially now that I was an adult.

I didn't move, but Grant pointed his gun at my mother and said, "Not another step." She stopped abruptly, and put her hands up.  
"Rebecca, you have to get out, now." My father told me.

"I don't understand. Grant, what's happening?" I edged closer to Grant for protection.  
"We're trained agents, Becky, we fought off whatever it was that woman gave us. They keep having to give us new doses each day. And they're probably coming to give us one now." My mother looked at me pleadingly with her eyes. "Please, you have to go."  
"Bex, we've stayed here too long already. We're going to be found out." Grant whispered.  
"I can't just leave them, they're my parents!" I protested.

"And what happens if they're lying?" asked Grant.  
"Well, I have the antidote, don't I?" I held up the two syringes that held the antidote.  
Before grant could answer, someone kicked him in the back so he flew forward, knocking into my parents. Then, before I could react, that same somebody grabbed me behind from the waist. I could feel the cold tip of a syringe pressing against my throat.  
"Don't move a muscle." He warned me. Grant shot me a cautionary look. He knew what I was going to do. Too late.  
I stamped on the mans toes, elbowed him in the stomach and them slammed my head back into his face to break his nose. My attack worked well- the man groaned and fell to the floor.

My head really hurt though, and I now felt nauseous and dizzy. "Bex..." Grant said slowly. He pointed to my leg.  
The needle of the syringe was stuck in my thigh. I didn't feel it, but once Grant had pointed it out, I felt like fainting. I slowly slid down the wall and multicoloured dots danced in front of my vision.  
Grant pulled the syringe out of my leg and threw it to the other side of the room.  
"Are you okay?" Grant asked. He lifted my head up to look into my eyes for pupil reflexes. "Bex, are you in any pain?"  
No. Not pain. But I felt weird... I felt angry. "Get the hell away from me." I snarled, pushing Grant away.  
"Bex?" He frowned with confusion. "What's wrong?"

What's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong is that I kissed Sam and now I have these weird feelings for Grant and if Grant hadn't frigging turned up I wouldn't have to deal with these emotions, because Bex Baxter doesn't deal with emotions. What's wrong is that Grant kills people for a living and he acts as if he doesn't care! What's wrong is that my parents tried to kill me and now they're all lovey-dovey and caring and I don't know who to trust anymore. What's wrong is that Grant was now trying to get me to kill people with him, and he had no right to do that.

"_Drop. Dead_." I spat. Grant looked surprised.  
"Bex. Listen to me. You're not thinking clearly. Just give me one of your syringes, and I can make you better, okay?" He said, slowly moving towards me.  
"Oh, you would just love that, wouldn't you?" I sneered. "Well, I'm finally thinking clearly for the first time. You are a murderer. And I don't really like you anymore, which is a shame cause you're a good kisser. But that doesn't matter. Because you would just say anything to get me to do anything. Like telling me Sara is evil just to get me to kill her. Well screw you."  
This was like being drunk- I didn't care what I did, but I was thinking clearly. I was thinking more clearly than I had in months.

I dropped one of the syringes on the floor and crushed it with my boot. "And _you_." I whirled round to face my parents. "You tried to kill me. And you didn't even apologise. You're crap parents. And you don't deserved being saved. So screw you too." I took the second syringe and crushed it underneath my foot.

"Bex, please. This isn't good. We need to get you to another antidote." Grant said. "Come on. You can trust me. I'm not going to hurt you."  
I stopped suddenly, and glared at him. "No that's the thing, Grant. You are going to hurt me. So I'm just going to have to kill you before you can do that."  
Then I lunged.


	26. Part 3

**Hello! In a very good mood (cause it's my birthday whooop) so I uploaded today!**

**PART 3**

**MACEY**

**PRESENT TIME**

Noah hummed a song I didn't recognise under his breath while we were scouting the halls. I didn't even know where to start looking, and so far, these halls seemed deserted so we couldn't interrogate anybody to tell us where my parents were being kept.

"Good God, Noah, it's a miracle we haven't been caught yet. Be quiet!." I said irritably. "What even is that, anyway?"

"It's a song soldiers used to sing in the war to comfort them. '_It's a long way to Tipperary, it's a long way to go. It's a long way to Tipperary, to the sweetest girl I know._'" Noah sang quietly.

"We're not at war." I told him.

"Believe it or not, princess, I realised." Noah replied sarcastically. "Maybe you would preffer something more suited to our situation. I can also do 'Mission Impossible', the James Bond theme and the 'Jeopardy!' theme."

I rolled my eyes. "You know what we should do? We should play the quiet game. Ready? Three, two, one, go!"

Noah was quiet for exactly six seconds. "I lose." He said. "So, your parents are politicians. That must be boring."

An image of Circle members chasing me at one of my parent's campaign parties flashed behind my eyelids. "Oh, no, it's a real blast." I told him.

"I'm sure it is. I heard you were almost killed one time?" He said curiously.

"Yeah, and wasn't that a hoot and a half. Can we not talk about it?" I quickly thought of something to change the subject. "When the Blackthorne boys came to Gallagher, I don't remember seeing you there."

"Yeah. I was told to stay behind." Noah told me, peering in to a door. It was empty.

"Why?"

"You know how Blackthorne is a school that teaches people how to be spies?"

"I thought they taught you how to be assassins." I wondered.

"It used to be a curicculum teaching us just how to be assassins. Thanks to Joe Solomon, the school decided to let us pick between being taught how to be a spy and being taught how to be an assassin." Noah explained quietly. "But they decided to transition into doing that they'd teach three more years of assassination. Unfortunately, me, Zach, Grant, we were all in the bottom year. If we were a few weeks younger we would have had a choice whether to be assassins or spies. But we weren't, so we had to learn how to be assassins."

"I still don't see why you weren't at Gallagher." I frowned.

"Because I wasn't finished." Noah said. "We were graded with points. Three for a professional job, two for a standard job, one for a bad job and zero for a terrible job. I was two point behind Zach, who was top in our class. We were the two who, even though we were friends, kept competing to take over each other. The teachers said, if I wanted to reach my full potential they didn't think that being distracted by going to Gallagher was in my best interests. So I stayed behind." He finished.

I didn't say anything, but I was feeling sorry for him. Blackthorne seemed like hell- a freakishly tidy hell.

Noah cleared his throat. "So, what-" But I never got to find out what he was going to ask, because the hallway lights turned off and alarms started blaring "INTRUDER ALERT. INTRUDER ALERT. CODE BLACK. CODE BLACK. INTRUDER ALERT."

Crap. This was not good. The night-vision contact lenses Liz had given me turned on, and what I saw made my blood run cold. Five minutes ago there was nobody in these hallways were barren, but now they were swarming with people. Noah cursed under his breath and pushed me into the wall- just as the bullets started raining down on us. He just saved me from getting shot, I realised. Noah rolled towards an arched pillar embedded into the wall - that I supposed was put there about half a century ago to give the manor a more elegant look- and started shooting at the black-clothed people running towards us with guns.

"Macey, get the hell out of here!" Noah yelled over the sound of the bullets.

"I'm not leaving you." I shouted, shooting at the enemies. Spy rule #21- No man gets left behind.

"Just do it!" He called. When I didn't move, he groaned with annoyance, and ran over to where I was crouched. "This is no time to do the honourable thing. I said get out! I'll be right behind you." His teeth were clenched with concentration.

I needed to trust that he would follow me. "Fine! Let's go on three. One. Two. Three!" I fired three more shots,and started retreating. Back down the hall, round a corner where it was safer. I turned around to tell Noah where we should go next.

He wasn't there. "NOAH?!" My voice rose to a terrified shriek. I peered round the corner to find Noah was retreating, but he kept firing shots to keep the enemies back and keep us safe.

I heard the boom of a bullet being fired, and a second later, Noah's leg gave out under him. Red blood blossomed on the ground. Another bullet fired and I bit back a scream- I could tell it hit Noah's stomach, just one centimetre below where the bullet-proof Kevlar vest stopped. Noah crumpled to the floor. At the last second he turned around, and caught my eye. I could see the word forming on his lips- "Go."

**BEX**

**FIVE MINUTES EARLIER**

I lunged, with my fingers stretched out to grab at Grant's throat. Abe and Grace- I refused to call them my parents, they hadn't earned that right- pinned my arms to my sides to stop me. I screamed with frustration.

If I couldn't kill them myself, I would just have to let someone else do it for me. I strained against Abe and Grace's restraint hold and used the Lock-Clock method- If you're in a lock, move your legs like the hands of a clock, swooping your assailant away from you with your legs. This will cause them to lose their grip.- to get out of their grip. They recovered quickly, and caught my hands but it was too late- I had slammed my head into the Break In Case Emergency (Code Black) alarm.

The alarm started blaring instantly. I grinned. Yes, my eyebrow was cut and blood was trickling down my face, which was kinda gross, but it was worth it.

"You're dead now!" I laughed at Grant, Abe and Grace.

"We need to get her out of here." Grant said. Abe nodded once and used the Criss-Cross hold to put his hand over my mouth so I couldn't yell, and his other arm round my arms, which were pinned to my side, so I couldn't move. "You need to get her out. Get her to the antidote, and then wait with her while she recovers. I need to go find everybody else!" He had to yell over the alarm.

I struggled as much as I could, so they had to move slower. Three doors down, Grace stopped and said- "Macey's parents. We need to get them too. I'll get them to safety, you just keep going!" She told her husband.

We all went in seperate directions, and I took note of where Grant was going. I would eventually get out of Abe Baxter's hold, and then I would go after Grant. There would be no-one to protect him then.

**SOPHIA**

**PRESENT TIME**

I ran with my daughter in my arms, as fast as I could. Lenny jumped with fright when the alarms started blaring. Then everything went pitch black and I couldn't see- but I could hear people running.

I stuck myself to the wall and prayed nobody would see me. Lenny whimpered. "It's going to be okay, baby." I whispered soothingly. I didn't know if anything was going to be okay anymore, but I couldn't bear the thought of my daughter being so scared.

A group of five girls ran around the corner with guns- I breathed with relief. They were Gallagher students. They spotted me and came over to see if I was hurt.

"No, I'm not hurt, but please. Get my daughter to safety." I pleaded. The leader of their group- a tall girl whose hair was tied back in a plait- ordered two of their group to take my daughter outside to safety.

"Jess, Alice, go take the girl to where the medical team are. Make sure she's safe." She ordered. I kissed Lenny's cheek quickly and handed them over to the girls. She was sobbing quietly.

The girls started running off into the darkness- one holding Lenny in her arms, the other one holding a gun up for protection.

"We need to get you to safety now." The leader of the group said. "But we have to go another way, so if anyone catches us they won't go the same way as Jess, Alice and your daughter."

I nodded, biting back tears. The girls motioned for me to follow and took off running. Four, five, six hallways later, I could see a window with pale moonlight shining in. This would be where we would have to rappel down. We were five, four, three metres away from it.

Then out of nowhere, two darts hit the girls. They fell to the ground, blue electricity fizzing through their bodies. Taser darts? I wondered. I stopped suddenly- unsure of what to do.

"Hello again, Sophia." A shiver ran through my spine at that voice.

"You again." My voice trembled- I hoped he didn't notice. I closed my eyes, and images of me in a cold room while I was interrogated flashed behind my eyes. He kept shouting at me to tell me all of Stephen's plans, secrets, fighting tactics- all the stuff that I didn't know because Stephen didn't tell me for my own protection.

"We still have some things we need to talk about." He said from behind me. The next thing I know, a cloth bag is being shoved over my head, and I'm being dragged off.

**LIZ**

**PRESENT TIME**

"Wow, this is like, really useful." I smiled triumphantly. "Seriously though, who carries around a GPS tracker that shows where everybody in the building is? I mean, are they stupid?"

I looked at the goon Gabe had tackled, who was now drooling on his own shoulder. "Debatable." Gabe shrugged.

"Right, so I'm guessing thatthese gray dots are us, and those orange ones are them?" I pointed it out to Gabe.

"Yep, and these two dots standing still are us. And those three dots coming towards us are enemies." Gabe pointed out. "We should probably go."

"Yep. Look- these three gray dots are heading towards a high security area on the top floor. That has to be Cammie and Sam and Eli." I told him.

"How can you be sure?" Gabe asked. Before I could answer him, the lights turned off and an alarm started blaring.

"I'm not sure but we're going to have to take a chance!" I yelled. "Because they're being chased by orange dots, and now, so are we!"

"Crap." Gabe muttered. He grabbed my arm and started running towards where we hoped Cammie and Sam were.

**CAMMIE**

**PRESENT TIME**

"Sam, just run!" I grabbed Sam's arm. "Now is not the time to save our butts, you need to stick with us." I kept running, dragging Sam behind me.

"Sara's room should be bulletproofed!" Eli yelled back. "All we need to do is get in there and we'll be safe!"

"You heard the man, let's go!" I shot a few more bullets from my gun- it hit somebody in the chest, where the Kevlar vest stopped it from getting through. The man I hit stumbled back for a second, but recovered and kept running towards us.

Eli tried out the door- and amazingly it was open. Sam and I stumbled through the doorway and slammed the door shut, turning the lock. There was pounding on the door, a pause, then five shots. None of them got through the door- Eli was right, the room was bulletproofed.

"Where is she?" I asked, looking around. "She should be here- where is she?"

Sam grabbed my arm. "Cammie- over there."

The french doors leading to the balcony were open- outside the night was starry, and the moonlight bathed everything in pale light. I could hear and smell the sea close to us, and I could see a pier leading to the water.

And I could also see two figures sitting on the rail of the balcony. One of them was slight and feminine- the other was lean and muscular, and male. Sara... and Zach.

My heart leaped. "Zach." I whispered hoarsely. He must have heard me, because he turned around. It was him, with his same dark brown hair and bright green eyes. But when he looked at me, his expression was blank. He didn't recognise me.

"I thought you would find me sooner or later." Sara said calmly.

"Our agents have this place surrounded, Sara. You've lost. Now give us Zach back." I said.

"Why would I do that?" She asked curiously.

"Because he's Sam's brother, and my fiancé." I said. Zach looked at me.

"We're not engaged." He frowned. How long had it been since I'd heard his voice?

"Yes, we are, Zach. Look. You gave this to me on a beach in Italy." I held out my hand to show him the ring, glinting on my finger. He looked really confused.

"Do- do I remember that?" He frowned. I wanted to go over and hug him and never let him go. He was remembering.

"Don't listen to her Zach, she's the enemy. She's just trying to confuse you." Sara told him, taking his hand. Zach yanked his hand out of hers.

"Then why do I remember liking her?" He asked accusingly.

"Because she kidnapped you and put fake memories in your head." Sara told him earnestly.

Sam snorted. "Please, like that's even possible."

"And him- he looks like me. Is he really my brother?" Zach asked.

"Look, there's a lot to explain. You need to trust me, okay?" Sara took his hand again. This time, Zach let her. "Go ahead, I'll follow you."

Zach dropped down off the balcony ledge, and when he was all the way to the ground, Sara cut his rapell-a-cord so we couldn't follow him.

"No!" I yelled, rushing forward. Sara pointed her gun at me to stop me.

Just before she rappelled down, she smiled and taunted, "Catch me if you can."


	27. Part 4

**Sorry that Part 4 took so long to get out. After this one there will be a final chapter- the epilogue- and then that's the end of the story, sadly :( **

**Since I love writing Gallagher Girls so much I may just have to find another way to write another story... maybe, someday. But for now, enjoy the fourth and final part!**

**LIZ **

"That is so cool! And you haven't even sold it to the CIA yet?" I grinned at Gabe. He shrugged, and didn't answer. Gabe really was a genius- I hadn't even heard of anyone else using a microbomb that exploded light and ultrasonic sound to numb the senses until you passed out.

We tiptoed around the unconcious bodies lying on the floor to the room. "Can you tell if they're in the room?" Gabe asked.

I pressed some buttons on the tracking GPS. Nothing happened."No, I think the shockwaves from the bomb scrambled it's sensors up a little bit."

Gabe looked at the GPS thoughtfully. "I'm going to have to work on that."

"Or you could just make a new GPS tracker of your own." I suggested. I came to a stop outside a dark door with the number 23 on it. There were around 15 bullet holes in the wood, and where the wood had been shot away I could see a titanium sheet behind the wood. "This should be where Cammie is- I hope." I tried opening the door, but it didn't budge. "Great. Just perfect."

"Don't worry, I have something for that too." Gabe reached into his inside jacket pocket to pull out a metal disc with three prongs in the middle. He jammed it into the door, and it started whirring and clicking. Twenty-two seconds later the door lock unclicked.

I gaped at Gabe. "Jeez you're like Mary Poppins with technology!" We needed to work together sometime. Sure, at first I thought he was annoying but imagine the technology we could make if we worked together. Gabe gave me a grim smile, putting the three-pronged disc back into his pocket.

The metal disc had shredded through the door-lock mechanism as if it was made out of tinfoil. I gently pushed the door open to find a dark room that was illuminated by the moonlight coming in throught the french doors leading to the balcolny. Inside, there were three figures.

I recognised two of them as Sam struggling to hold Cammie, who seemed to be trying to fling herself over the balcolny. Eli was casually browsing the bookshelves. I ran over to Cammie and pulled her away from the balcony.

"Let go of me! I'm not going to jump!" Cammie told me calmly. Sam reluctantly let go of her.

"Better safe than sorry." He shrugged. Cammie glared at him.

"I am so close to getting Zach back I'm not going to throw it away by flinging myself off of a balcony." She said through gritted teeth. "I need to get down there, and I need to get down there right now!"

I glanced out of the window where I could see Sara and Zach walking quickly down a pier. "Why didn't you just shoot her?" I asked, digging through my pocket for something.

Cammie picked up her gun out of her belt. "Stupid thing's out of bullets." She explained. I found what I was looking for. I pulled it out triumphantly and handed it to Cammie.

"Extendable steel rappell-a-wire." I told her. It was basically a caribineer attatched to a circular box with five hundred metres of unsnappable wire wrapped up inside it. The only thing that could break it was a titanium knife. I only had one rappell-a-wire. Cammie snatched it from my hand and immediately attatched herself to the metal bar of the balcony railing.

She gave me and Sam a grim nod, then rapelled down into the darkness. My heart pounded. Sara was crazy-she would kill Cammie without hesitation. I heard a soft thump on the ground. "Cammie, you okay?" I called. I looked down to see Cammie standing on the earthy ground, holding a knife in her hand.

"I don't want anyone else to get hurt." Cammie called up. She pressed the knife to the wire, and it snapped with a twang. She must have used a titanium kife. Sam inhaled sharply.

Cammie started sprinting towards the pier. "Crap." Sam groaned. "Come on, we need to go." He pulled mine and Gabe's arms and we ran out the door, leaving an oblivious Eli in Sara's room, still staring at the bookcase.

**SOPHIA**

I walked obediently a few steps in front of my captor. I had learned long ago not to struggle. I kept my pace steady, and my thoughts calm. If anything comforted me, it was the thought that at least my daughter had gotten away safely. I didn't know this for sure, but I needed to hang on to my last little shred of hope or I would just break down.

I heard a door unlocking, a pause, then a thump. I frowned. I couldn't see anything because of my blindfold, but it sounded as if somebody had collapsed on the ground. Then rushed hands untied my hands and took the blindfold away from my eyes. Coloured spots danced in front of my eyes as my vision adjusted to the sudden light. I turned around defensively, and after 3 seconds I could make out the figures of two girls. The girls who took my daughter to safety- Jess and Alice.

"Where's my daughter?" I demanded.

"Don't worry, she's safe." One of them told me. "When we radioed Meghan and Clara and they didn't answer, we figured something was wrong so we came to find you. These taser darts really come in handy."

"Come on, we need to go before he wakes up, Alice." The other girl said. Jess was the one with the green eyes, Alice was the one with the stud earring that doubled as a reciever, I told myself so I knew who was who.

"Where is everybody?" I asked. The alarm had finally been turned down, so it was still blaring but it was quieter than before, so I could actually hear Jess and Alice speaking.

"We don't know. Some people tried to escape, so we have about fifty agents looking for them, everyone else was knocked out and taken away in planes so they couldn't escape. We're going to take them to the New York Guard Facillity. Until then, we need to get everybody out of the building." Alice said seriously. At my confused look she said worriedly, "We found unstable explosives in the basement, and at they're linked to a trigger, but we don't know what or where the trigger is."

MACEY

I took a deep breath and reluctantly walked around the corner. Nobody was around. I heard on the walkie-talkie a girl called Shauna Lennox had turned up with around one hundred and fifty agents, and they all rounded up the Alliance members they could find. In doing so, they saved my life- they caught the members who were chasing me with guns.

But now, I had to go back for Noah. At first glance, I couldn't see anybody wearing a black bulletproof body vest with a 2010 ASKN gun strapped to their chest. But then, I saw the tip of a black boot poking out of the doorway of a janitorial closet.

I ran forward, and fumbled around for the lightswitch. The stench of blood almost made me gag. I finally found the lightstitch and flicked it on. The lightbulb was nearly dead- it only provided a small ammount of light. But it was enough to see Noah was lying on the ground. His eyes were half open. He must have dragged himself in here to get away from the gunfire.

It was too dark to see whether he was breathing. "Request backup, agent down. Identification- Fuller, Noah- BLCKTHRNX2511. Floor 2 janitorial closet. Status unknown. As far as I can tell he is unconcious and bleeding heavily. I will try to wrap his wounds and control the bleeding but I need medical assistants immediately."

I quickly looked around for some bandages I could use to wad his wound- and used to closest thing to me, toilet roll.

I ripped it apart and pressed the paper to the wound. If Noah was breathing I couldn't tell. I pressed my fingers to his neck, but I was shaking too much to feel anything, if there even was a pulse. I hoped that there was.

A medical team of two people came running to my aid exactly thirty seconds after my distress call. One of them pushed me aside, so they could get to him. One of them cut open his bulletproof vest and shirt, pushed his dogtags out of the way just in case they would have to perform CPR, while the second paramedic checked for his breath and pulse.

The paramedic sighed.

"Is he...?" I didn't dare finished the sentence. The paramedic nodded. His partner told me, "You should go. I heard your friend went down to the pier to track down Sara and Zachary. We'll take care of this boy."

I nodded, turned the other way and ran. A spy could not lose focus of her mission, no matter the weight of events that happened during the mission.

**BEX**

Abe had almost managed to get me out of the building, but I wriggled out of his grasp and slammed him head against the wall. He slumped to the ground, completely limp. I didn't even feel sorry.

Without a second's hesitation I ran after Grant. On the way I encountered two agents I recognised as Circle members.

"Agent Grant Newman. Where is he?" I demanded, stopping them.

"Grab her, Tomin, I heard she went cuckoo." One agent said to the other.

"I got given the antidote." I lied smoothly. "And there's no time to argue. Tell me where Agent Newman is.

Agent Tomin clicked on his comms unit and asked for Grant's location. "Heading to the pier." He told me.

I took off without another word. Grant, here I come.

**CAMMIE**

"I see you left your friends behind." Sara said coolly. She was facing the pier. "Why is that?"

"I don't want any of them to get hurt." I said. Sara turned around and regarded me.

"So you do realise you're going to get hurt. Good." She smiled smugly.

"What do you get out of all of this? What do you get by taking Zach?" I asked, stepping closer to her. My fingers itched to reach for the gun strapped to my thigh.

"I get to see you miserable. You will finally feel how miserable you made me." Sara spat.

"Just one problem with that, though." I remarked. I reached for my gun, pointed it towards Zach and shot him in the thigh.

He exclaimed with pain, and pulled the dart out of his thigh. On the walk to the pier, I had filled the dart gun with the antiserum. Zach looked really confused as his legs went slack and he sank to the pier floor. Sara looked at him, then back at me. Her jaw dropped slightly with surprise, but then she instantly raised her fists, and ran towards me. I blocked and retalliated her punches with kicks. I pushed Sara back to the edge of the bridge, then picked up the gun again.

"Stop!" Sara cried, raising her hands.

"Give me one good reason why I should do that." I suggested.

Sara grinned evilly. "Because I have this." She put her left arm out to the side and rolled up her sleeve. There was a small box strapped to her wrist that beeped in time to her pulse. "I think you know what this is. A dead man's trigger. Let's just call it my life insurance. You kill me, and everybody in there is dead too."  
I kept my gun trained on her, even though I couldn't shoot her. A dead man's trigger was a heart monitor attatched to your arm. It was wirelessly linked to a bunch of explosives somewhere within a 300 kilometre radius, and if the heart monitor sensed that the heartbeat had stopped- because, say, the person wearing the trigger had been shot dead- then it would transmit a message to the monitor on the explosives that would cause them to blow up.

I clicked on the comms transiever on my shoulder. "Everybody, evacuate the building immediately." I said tersely.

Sara laughed. "That won't matter. I've already called my boat. By the time everybody's evacuated the building I will be long gone." As she said that, I could hear the rumbling of a boat engine getting closer. I saw who was driving it. Sara raised her gun and pointed it at me to keep me away. It didn't matter though.

I put my gun back in the strap and smiled. I heard people running towards me. A picture of Sara kissing Zach flew into my head. It only fuelled my anger.

"Kiss this, bitch." I flicked my leg up, kicking Sara so her head snapped up and she stumbled backwards onto the boat, where Catherine was waiting to drive her to a cell.

But just as she fell back, her finger closed on the trigger. Somebody dived to push me out of the way- was it just me or did that person look a lot like Stephen Cavan?- and the bullet zoomed past me, towards where Sam, Liz and Gabe were stood. I calculated the trajectory of the bullet's path- it would hit Sam.

Just at the last second, someone threw a Kevlar vest in front of Sam- on the boat, Catherine gasped with relief and quickly drove away with Sara. I turned around and pushed myself up to see if Sam was okay. He looked at the Kevlar vest in his hands with confusion, then to his left to see the person who threw it towards him.

"Thanks, Shauna." He breathed, dropping the bulletproof vest. So that was Shauna Lennox.

She shrugged. "No problem. Figured you might need saving."

"Oh, shut up." Sam smirked, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "I've missed you. Where have you been hiding?"

"Paris, naturellement." Shauna spoke fluently in French. I raised my eyebrow, but since Sam was fine, I turned back to Zach.

"Thanks for saving me." I whispered quickly to Stephen. He simply nodded. Zach was sitting with his back against the pier, looking really confused.

I helped him up. "Zach, are you okay?" I asked, looking up into his eyes.

"I'm sorry, but who are you again?" He asked. My heart fell.

"What? But the-"

"I guess it's too soon to make jokes about this, huh?" He smiled slyly. I wanted to laugh and cry and be happy and angry all at the same time.

"You jerk!" I slapped his arm lightly, then threw my arms around his neck. "You had me worried that I had lost you forever."

"Forever? Come on, Gallagher girl, you know I can't stay away from you for ever." Zach hugged me back. "Camms, not that I want to ruin this magical moment, but what is my brother doing here?" He whispered.

I smiled. "You missed so much while you were away. Sam- he's been helping me get you back. You have no idea how great he was, I mean, just tonight he must have saved my life at least half a dozen times."

"He has, huh?" Zach said quietly. I didn't know what his tone meant.

"What did I miss?" I heard Grant's voice from behind us. I turned around to see Bex running after him.

"Hey, Bex are you back to normal?" Grant asked, just before Bex started strangling him.

Sam, Liz and Shauna immediately worked together to pull Bex off of Grant and inject the antiserum into her neck. The serum worked quickly. Bex stopped fighting against Shauna and Sam's iron grip.

They slowly let her go, and she ran forward and flung her arms around his neck. "I'm so so so sorry. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Bex babbled.

"Still choking me, Bex." Grant coughed. Bex immediately let him go.

"Okay, so at least we're now all together." I said, walking over to join my friends.

"Not Macey." Zach pointed out. "Where is she?"  
"Here." Macey said hoarsely.

"Mace, what's wrong?" Bex asked her.

Macey's eyes were bloodshot, and she looked like she was trying not to cry. "I- um, Grant- N-" Macey stumbled with her words. "Noah's... dead."

Grant looked stunned. He froze, not knowing what to do or say. "N-Noah's dead?" Zach stepped forward to stand at Grant's side. Macey nodded.

"H-He was shot when we were found out. It was below his Kevlar vest. When I got back to him, he was already dead. He died saving me." Macey wiped a tear from her cheek. "I'm so sorry."

Zach and Grant were still. After fifteen mournful seconds of silence, Grant said. "He died an honourable death. The way he would have wanted." His words were said, but they weren't forced. He wasn't saying that for Macey's sake, he was saying it because it was the truth.

"We'll get through this." Zach added quietly.

"Together." I held his hand. Bex took Grant's hand comfortingly. Gabe stepped closer to Liz. Shauna looped her arm through Sam's.

And I knew there and then I was also telling the truth. Whatever life threw at us, we would get through it- together.


	28. EPILOGUE

**Hey guys. Yep, this is it. The final chapter. First of all, a few notices-**

**1) I haven't said the names of Cammie and Zach's children so you can name them whatever you want- tell me in the reviews if you like**

**2) I told you Sam's story had a happy ending :)**

**3) Before I even start writing any more Gallagher Girls (which I really want to do) I first have to finish my Hunger Games fic and re-upload my mortal instruments one so it may take me some time, but I will get to it.**

**4) What do you think Cammie should do for her job? (You'll find out what she's considering doing in this chapter. Tell me in the reviews**

**5) If you were wondering who shauna was, you'll find out here.**

**Aaand finally...**

**I was thinking about doing a Gallagher Girls story from Gilly's point of view, instead of Cammie's. I've looked around and I don't think I've seen anyone do that so i think it would be original. I don't know what to call it yet, so if you have any ideas leave it in the reviews. And if I do post another Gallagher Girls fic i will tell you on this story so look out for an update on this story, it will mean I am writing the Gilly Gallagher one. **

**Well, that's it my lovelies. Goodbye for now, and thanks for sticking with me :)**

* * *

**EPILOGUE**

**12 Years Down The Road...**

**CAMMIE**

The doorbell rang- it was an annoying shrill that me and Zach had meant to change for the past five years, but we had just never gotten round to it. "I'll get it!" I called up the stairs to Zach.

I opened the door to greet Liz and Gabe. "Hey, Lizzy." I smiled, hugging her. "Hi, Gabe. Come in, it's freezing out here."

I missed them so much. How long had it been since I'd last seen Liz? A year and a half, maybe? As Liz hung her coat on the coatrack, I noticed the flash of an engagement ring on her finger. I smiled. Liz had rung me to say Gabe had proposed, after they had been going out for a few years, but I hadn't actually had a chance to congratulate her in person.

"Happy Thanksgiving. We bought champagne." Gabe held out a bottle of champagne.

"How very thanksgiving-y." I remarked, kissing his cheek as thanks. "What are we celebrating?"

"Let's see- There's our five months of engagement, Sam and Shauna being married for one year last month, Macey and Preston being married for 5 years." Gabe ticked off his fingers.

"Oh, and then there's Bex and Grant." Liz said.

"Oh, yeah, it was their two-no, three year anniversary four months ago wasn't it?" I said, taking the champagne to the kitchen to put it in the fridge. Gabe and Liz smiled.

"Okay, Agent One is ready, and Agent Two wants her hair in plaits for when Grandma Morgan gets here to pick them up." Zach walked into the kitchen with our six-year old son and five year old daughter.

"Agent One and Agent Two?" I raised my eyebrow at Zach.

"Yep. Agent One and Agent Two." Zach confirmed. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, Agent Two, come here." My daughter skipped over to me and I quickly braided her hair, just a few seconds before the piercing sound of the doorbell rang.

"And, that should be my mom." I said, tying the final knot on the hairtye. My daughter's hair was blonde like mine, but she had Zach's green eyes. "I'll go answer that."

"Okay, agents." Zach said in a super-serious voice. "Our top-secret mission for today is-" As I walked to the door of the farmhouse I had inherited from my grandparents, I could hear Zach describing, very seriously, the kid's mission to do up the Stairs of Doom to the Secret Closet and retrieve their coats to succeed in their mission. He hadn't changed through the years- still as sarcastic and jokey as ever- but he was an amazing dad.

"Hey mom." I opened the door and kissed my mother's cheek. Rachel Morgan was still as beautiful as ever, and you couldn't see the few gray strands of hair that mixed in with her blond locks. Tiny bits of snow dusted the top of her hair.

"Hey, sweetie. Look who I found." My mom stepped aside to reveal Sam.

"Yeah, I was just finishing a mission in town, your mom saw me and offerred me a ride." Sam explained. That was nice of her- after the whole deal with the Alliance, in the past 12 years my mom had slowly but surely warmed up to Sam.

"Come in, it's freezing out here." I said, inviting them in.

"Nanna!" My daughter shrieked, as the same time my son cheered, "Uncle Sam!"

My brother-in-law and my mother were nearly trampled as my kids ran to meet them.

"Hey! There's my favourite neice and nephew." Sam picked up my daugher with one arm and my son with the other arm.

"Uncle Sam!" My daughter looked at him sternly. "We're your only neice and nephew!"

"But you're still my favourite." Sam assured them. "Now go along with your grandmother."

The children laughed all the way to the car, kicking up the snow from the ground. My mom had offered to take the kids in over Thanksgiving. I knew she liked people around the house now that I had left and Abby had moved in with Joe.

And she was almost ready to retire from Gallagher. She had asked Macey and Liz to take over for her- and they were both going to be headmistresses. This would be the first time Gallagher had two headmistresses since the school had been built. I was still a part-time field agent, and so was Zach, but he was about to retire from being a field agent soon.

He and Joe were opening the Solomon-Goode Institute for boys and girls. This was a school where boys and girls could go get taught how to be spies. This was for boys who didn't want to go to Blackthorne to get taught how to be assassins and spies, and for girls who didn't know how to be spies yet, or who weren't above average like Liz, or who weren't raised in spy famillies like Bex and me, or who didn't have parents in high-up places like Macey.

I still didn't know whether I wanted to stay as a part time agent, or retire to teach at Gallagher or Joe and Zach's school. The thought of me or Zach not returning from a mission to see out kids was still something that scared me every day. I was probably going to go teach.

"Hey, Sam. Where's Shauna?" I asked.

"She went to have Thanksgiving with her parents in France." He explained.

"Did I hear that Sam was here?" Zach stepped out of the kitchen, tossing a kitchen towel over his shoulder. When he and Sam saw each other they greeted eachother with a friendly handshake and a half-hug.

They were friends- they actually acted like brothers, and they had been doing so for about 11 years now. Even after twelve years, I could still remember the night Zach reconciled with Sam very clearly in my head.

**(-12 Years Ago-)**

Macey had cried as Noah's body had been taken out of the building in a black bag. We were all silent. Grant and Zach, tough as old boots, didn't cry but I could feel how much their loss hurt them. We sat on the pier for hours. Older agents did a sweep of the house and the perimeter, and then another sweep, and another one. At some point in the night, a spy came to light a synthetic fire for us. The flames were orange, with the occasional flash of blue and the fire itself provided a lot of warmth, but the flames couldn't catch onto anything to light it on fire.

Nobody spoke. The only sound was the crackling of the synthetic fire and Macey's sniffs. Just as the dark sky was beginning to lighten, Sam came and handed everybody cups of tea or coffee.

When an agent with tortoise shell glasses came up to us to ask us for accounts of what had happened, Sam was the one who told him to back off for another 24 hours minimum, or else.

Another two hours after that, Stephen came to speak to me. I left Zach very reluctantly, but I could tell what Stephen had to say was important.

"What is it?" I asked quite snappishly. I didn't mean to be snappy, but I didn't have the patience to talk to Stephen- not now of all times when I needed to be with my friends.

"I- um, Sophia talked to me. She told me some students from Gallagher saved her- probably saved her life- and I- uh." I could tell whatever he had to say was difficult. "I want to ask for a ceasefire. I don't want the Gallaghers and the Cavans to fight anymore. This feud has gone on long enough, and too many people have gotten hurt. I would like for there to be peace between our two famillies."

I stared at him dully. Peace. If only we had more of that. But it was too little too late. "It's not my call to make. I'm only half-Gallagher." I said, turning to leave.

"That's good enough for me. And it would be good enough for Gilly too." Stephen caught my arm to stop me from leaving. "Isn't this what you want?"

I looked at Stephen, wondering curiously how much I really knew about him. One green eye, one blue. Salt-and-pepper hair. He had a wife, a daughter- a family. A family that I was a part of- no matter how much I didn't want to be a part of that family, or how distant our blood ties were. It's not right for famillies to fight.

I thought of Gilly, of her sword which sat in the Gallagher mansion she had built as a school. Of her memory, which was still alive in the walls and hallways and secret passageways of her school. And I didn't care about it. Gilly had done the right thing by killing Ioseph, but that was over a hundred years ago. Gilly's memory would still be alive, but now her story had changed. There would be no more fighting.

"It is what I want." I told Stephen finally. "No more fighting." I held my hand out.

"No more fighting." Stephen echoed, taking my hand and shaking it. Then he walked over to our little huddle and told Sam that they needed to go now. Sam looked up at him, and stood up abruptly.

"You know what, Stephen?" He asked. "You can go on ahead without me. Because I quit."

Zach looked surprised at Sam. If Stephen was shocked, he didn't show it. Or maybe it was because we agreed there would be no more fighting, but he simply nodded and walked away. Sam ran a hand tiredly through his hair, and walked over to the side of the pier to just stare at the water. Shauna Lennox walked over to him, but she had barely talked to him for three minutes before she went away. Sam returned to looking at the water. I wondered what he was thinking

I looked around to find Zach standing silently next to me. He had a weird look on his face.

"Are you alright?" I murmured worriedly.

"Do you trust Sam?" He asked me. "Like, if you had to trust him with your life, would you do it?"

I frowned. "Yes." What was he going on about? Zach took a deep breath like he was prepping himself for something difficult and then walked over to his brother with a detirmined look on his face. I didn't follow him, but I stayed within earshot.

Sam looked at Zach when he reached the fence of the pier. "Ah, let me guess." He said, a half a smile quirking at his lips. "Get out of her-"  
"Believe it or not, I was going to tell you to stay." Zach interrupted. Sam looked at him with genuine surprise. "I heard you've saved the lives of all of my friends at least once in the past few months. And not only did you save my life today, you also saved Cammie's. If that doesn't mean you're a good guy, I don't know what does. And I know it's an understatement ti say we got off on the wrong hand, but if Cammie can give you a second chance then so can I."

Sam didn't say anything, but he nodded. Zach left without another word, walking back towards me.

"Well, that was... unexpected." I remarked. Zach wrapped his arm around my shoulder and kissed the top of my head.

"Yeah, but you know what? I don't think I'm going to regret that." He smiled.

**(-PRESENT TIME-)**

The sound of the doorbell ringing snapped me out of my reverie. "Hey, someone get the champagne while I go answer that." I called behind me. I could hear the sound of a cork popping behind me.

Bex, Macey and Grant stood at the door. Their cheeks were flushed from the cold. "Great! Now we're all here! Come on in. Do you guys want some champagne?" I offered.

"None for me, thanks." Bex said, taking off her coat.

"Why not?" I asked. Then I saw the very noticable bump on Bex's stomach. "Look at my girl! All grown up!" I hugged her. "Congratulation! Why didn't you call?"  
"What, and miss the look on your face?" Bex laughed. It must have been why Liz and Gabe smiled when I thought we were celebrating Bex and Grant's marriage anniversary- I mean, it had been a beautiful wedding. And people only tried to break in twice.

"Hey, Mace. Where's Preston?" I asked.

"With his parents in Washington." She said sadly.

"Don't worry, Shauna's not with Sam today, so you're not alone." I comforted her. Preston had decided to not become president of the US, or whatever he was planning to do, but instead decided to become a agent debator, which basically meant he argued the cases of agents like what should and shouldn't be done on important missions and what new weapons should be authorised and stuff like that. This meant he and Macey travelled a lot, but Macey loved travelling.

I took the last 3 people of our group to the dining room to find that Zach had already set the dinner out. When he saw Bex's belly he gave Grant a congratulatory slap on the back. Macey sat down next to Sam.

"Do you guys know whether it's a boy or girl yet?" Liz asked.

"Uh, no, not yet. But we've thought of some names." Bex gave Grant a small smile. "Like, if it's a boy, it's going to be Noah."

Zach smiled. "That's a good name." He nodded in agreement.

"So, do you guys want to be cheesy and do the thing where we say what we're thankful for?" I Macey asked.

"Yeah." Sam smiled. "I think that there's a lot to be thankful for this year. I'll start."

"I am thankful for the fact that me and Shauna are married- and that we even found a way back to each other after five years of being apart." Sam said. Sam and Shauna's story was as complicated as mine and Zach's, and they had gone through as much as we had. But I was glad that they were together. I remember looking at Shauna and thinking who the hell was this girl who helped us? The night Zach made up with Sam was the night I found my answer-

**SAM**

**(-12 YEARS AGO-)**

"Hey." Shauna walked up to me, smiling. She looked over the side of the pier. "Is there something interesting down there?"

"You never know. Maybe some buried treasure." I turned around to smile at her. God, how long had it been since I'd seen Shauna? More than five years, I think.

"So... is that your brother?" Shauna turned around to look at where Cammie and Zach were standing- so close together they were practically one person.

"Yep." I replied stiffly. Cammie may think I was an alright person, but I'm pretty sure Zach still hated me.

"Why don't you go talk to him?" She asked me.

"I'd much rather talk to you." I said lightly, smiling at her. Shauna gave me her 'I'm not impressed' look. Still the same old Shauna, after all these years. She had the same hair that was between blonde and brown, a light sprinkle of freckles dusted her nose, and her brown eyes were solemn as she looked at me. "We haven't talked in years. How have you been?"

"I've been fine." She told me tersely. She was more tense that friendly now.

"You seem to be doing well. Heading your own spy devision and all." I said awkwardly. I wish we were the way we used to be.

"Yeah, well, I made a lot of new friends while my parents were carting me around Europe." She held a hand to the comms in her ear. "I've got to go. But- I'll talk to you later, 'kay?"

I nodded, but I didn't say anything. It's my fault, it's all my fault. And now I couldn't do anything to fix it.

Shauna was my best friend and next-door neighbour when I was growing up. She was the first person I told I was training as a spy, and she was also the first person to know I was going to go after Zach, the brother I had only recently found when I was 14.

When I told her I was training as a spy, she laughed at me and told me that it wasn't nice to tease. It took a lot of convincing to show her I was telling the truth. The second time I told her a big secret- the one about me going after Zach- she had been deadly serious. She believed me, and she thought I shouldn't go. Maybe I should have listened.

Because when I came back to find my dad was dead- shot by Circle members- I found out something else. Shauna had seen him get killed. She came over looking for me. When she realised I had gone after Zach she ran to find my father. That was when the Circle members started breaking the door down. He told her to hide in the closet. She peeked through the keyhole of the closet door to see my dad get shot. When I came home, I could hear her stifling sobs in the closet.

Then the police came over and took mine and Shauna's statements and within two weeks Shauna's parents had taken her away to Europe to get away from the memories of 27 Swallow Drive- to get away from me. We were both fourteen at the time. We hadn't even spoken much until we were twenty, and she had found me and called me. And now, three months later, here we were.

I missed the way we were. I was completely in love with my sweet best friend. Now we were just like strangers. I could feel Cammie's stare on my back, so I turned around to see that Zach had walked over to me, looking like he had something he wanted to say.

"Ah, let me guess." I said, feeling a bittersweet smile forming. First Shauna now Zach. "Get out of her-"  
"Believe it or not, I was going to tell you to stay." Zach interrupted. I looked at him with genuine surprise. Zach continued,"I heard you've saved the lives of all of my friends at least once in the past few months. And not only did you save my life today, you also saved Cammie's. If that doesn't mean you're a good guy, I don't know what does. And I know it's an understatement ti say we got off on the wrong hand, but if Cammie can give you a second chance then so can I."

I didn't say anything, but I nodded. Then I had a sudden thought- If Zach, of all people, could forgive me, then maybe so could Shauna. I ran off to find her.

An hour later, I returned to the pier with a satisfied expression. Shauna had agreed to meet me so we could catch up. Later, when Cammie asked me what that was about, I told her everything. She smiled and said, "It seems things are looking up already."

**(-PRESENT TIME-)**

**CAMMIE**

"Well, this year I am obviously most thankful for this." Bex raised her glass of water in a toast, and gestured to her belly.

"That goes for me too." Grant said.

"I am actually thankful for the fact that not only do I get to work with my fiancé in making cool stuff, but he's actually smart." Liz drank a sip of champagne.

"Twelve years and she's still figuring that out." Gabe smiled at Liz affectionately. "Well, I am most glad that if I ever get tired of inventing things, I can go teach at Zach's new school."

"I am most thankful for the fact that Liz and I are getting to be Gallagher's first double headmistresses, after Cammie's mom retires. By the way, Cammie, are you going to teach at our school, Zach's school or stay on as a spy?"

"I don't know yet." I admitted. "Zach, what are you most thankful for?"

"I am thankful that me and Joe are opening a school, and that I get to see my beautiful kids grow up into the amazing people that I know they're going to be."

"Well I am most thankful for all those things and that I get to be thankful for something each year- but most of all that I get to do it with my best friends." I finished.

"Well, what else did you expect?" Macey smiled.

"You're not getting rid of us that easily." Sam grinned.

"It was true twelve years ago and it'll be true fifty years from now." Liz said.

"We'll get through anything." Zach took my hand. "Together."


End file.
